Vet Clinic Dramatic Play

Are you ready to step into the world of animal care and embark on a fun and imaginative adventure with your little ones? In this post I will guide you through setting up an Animal Hospital or Vet Clinic dramatic play scene using our Vet dramatic play printables, to engage children in pretend play, while also fostering important skills such as empathy, cooperation and communication skills.

Setting up a Vet Clinic dramatic play scene

Before you start setting up your vet clinic pretend play scenario, you will need to gather some materials to bring the experience to life. Start by looking around the house for the kids’ stuffed animals, toy medical supplies, spatulas, cotton balls, or any other items that fit the theme.

If you have an ikea play kitchen, these make the perfect reception desk when you turn them around (see image below). I love using ours for pretend play but if you don’t have one, any small table or desk will work too.

I added the Vet and Reception signs to the back of our Ikea play kitchen, along with the Open/Closed sign and a couple of x-ray images to set the theme. If you’re using a table or other piece of furniture, just tape the signs to the front or stick them on the wall behind.

I then added clear jars with spatulas, cotton balls and pretend medicine. I put these and my kids’ doctor kit bag on top of the play kitchen so they would become part of the decoration but also easily accessible for play.

I used some of the signs included in our Vet dramatic play printables to create different areas, like the Waiting Room for animals waiting their turn to see the vet, the Recovery Room for animals that needed to recover from their treatments, and an “Adopt a Pet station” for kids to choose a new pet to take home.

For the pet adoption area you can place stuffed animals in a basket with the “adopt a pet” sign and have the pet adoption certificates nearby so children can fill them in. This area was a hit with my little ones!

Encouraging learning through play

When I’m designing our dramatic play kits, I like to make sure I keep them simple but also include enough variety to make for some fun play.

Most of the times I don’t use all the printables included, because I don’t want the kids to be overwhelmed with too much information, but the forms and checklists are always a must. My 7 year old daughter was a big help in testing and giving me feedback on what to add to the Vet Clinic printables to make sure they were just right for young kids. She was the one who suggested I added a field to circle the type of animal in the Patient Form, instead of a checkbox. I loved it because it’s a different way to use a pen and practice those important fine motor skills for young kids learning to write.

I like to laminate our forms so the kids can use them with a whiteboard marker over and over again. I did the same with Veterinarian / Vet Nurse badges. I made these by attaching a small peg to the back so the kids could peg them to their clothes.

Vet Clinic role play scenarios

Once our clinic is set up, children can dive into a variety of fun role-playing scenarios that will not only entertain them but also help develop their problem-solving skills and foster empathy towards animals.

Children can pretend to have a sick puppy who needs a check-up and treatment, or a kitten with a broken leg that requires bandaging. They can take turns being the vet, receptionist or pet owner, exploring different roles and creating their own stories, fostering a love for animals and learning the importance of taking good care of their pets.

This Vet Clinic was another well loved dramatic play theme at our house!

I hope this post inspired you to create a new play experience for your little ones.

If you’d like to set up a play space like this one, you can grab our Vet Clinic Dramatic Play Printables that include all the signs, labels and forms shown in the photos. Or check our Dramatic Play section for other imaginative play printables!