Summer Health Activity: Bumps and Bandages

Family members help one another through thick and thin!

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SKILLS: Children use language and social skills while they role-play ways that family members care for one another.

MATERIALS:

• crate or box
• adhesive bandages
• cotton balls
• stuffed animals
• storybooks
• tissues
• thermometer
• get-well cards
• blanket

IN ADVANCE: Ask children to share the times they've been sick or injured, and how family members cared for them. Encourage children to talk about who helped them and how that person made them feel better.

ACTIVITIES

1 Place all the materials into a crate or box. Pick out one item at a time and ask children to describe how it is used and how it can help someone if he or she is hurt or sick.

2 Invite children into the dramatic-play area to use the items to role-play ways family members help them when they are ill or hurt. Ask them to think about ways that family members who do not live with them might help, too.

3 Suggest that children use dolls to represent themselves and to demonstrate how their mother, father, or other family members help "fix" them.

4 If children have younger siblings, ask them to think about times when their siblings were ill or hurt. Encourage them to talk about and role-play ways they help their younger family members when they do not feel well.

For younger children: Invite children to further explore the look and feel of the bandages and cotton balls by creating collages with them.

For older children: Explore other kinds of bandages and medical supplies that might be used to treat sick or injured people. see if children can identify different uses for the objects.

Remember: Even minor injuries can become serious emotional issues for children. Be sure to allow plenty of time for children to discuss their feelings about illness and injuries.

SPIN-OFF

Provide paper, markers, and other art materials. Invite children to make get-well cards and other creative items that can be sent to people they know who are sick or to children in a nearby hospital. Talk about how this will make these people feel happier. Invite children to write or dictate letters to family members, thanking them for all the times that they have helped them.

Ellen Booth Church is a former professor of early childhood, a current educational consultant, keynote speaker, and author.

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