Most kids love playing pretend vets. They get to care for their favourite stuffed animals, practice nurture and empathy, and leave their companions feeling better than they started. 

Vet pretend play is one of the richest forms of imaginative play available to young children. It involves caregiving, problem-solving, empathy, and a level of professional authority that most children find deeply satisfying. 

Here are some ideas for setting up your little one’s play session. 

Creating the waiting room

Every good vet practice starts with a waiting room. Line up a row of chairs or cushions, and fill each one with a patient. Soft toys work beautifully here: a dog with a sore paw, a bunny who can’t stop sneezing, a dragon whose fire-breathing has been a little off lately.

Turn a notebook or a clipboard into an appointment book where your child can record each patient’s name and details, and decide who is seen first. The triage alone can take ten minutes.

Setting up the vet equipment

A pretend vet set is wonderful if you have one, but you don’t need one to enrich your child’s playtime. Improvised equipment works just as well because the child has decided what each item does.

A wooden spoon can become a thermometer. A small torch is used to check eyes and ears. A piece of ribbon is a bandage. A bowl of water and a cloth are used to clean a wound with great care. 

Inviting the patients

Dinkum Pets make for excellent patients at your child’s vet practice. A dog with a magnetic bone that has somehow swallowed it. A cat who is very dramatic about a minor scratch. A unicorn who has not been eating her carrots.

Cozy Dinkums make excellent patients, too, especially the more expressive ones. Every Dinkum comes with a name, personality, and backstory that can help your child develop their diagnosis. 

Consultations and diagnosis

Your child, as the vet, calls their first patient in, asks what has happened, examines them carefully, and makes a decision.

Encourage them to extend their playtime by asking open-ended questions:

• What do you think is wrong? 

• What treatment does she need? 

• Will she need to stay overnight, or can she go home today? 

• Is there anything she should not do while she is recovering?

Children who are given these questions will often answer them in extraordinary detail, helping prolong playtime and turn your veterinary practice into a full-blown franchise.

Moving onto the recovery ward

Patients who need to stay overnight go to the recovery ward: a small area set up with blankets and pillows where toys rest quietly until they are well enough to go home. 

A child who has set up a recovery ward will usually check on patients regularly, adjust their blankets, bring them water, and provide updates to worried family members waiting outside.

After each appointment

Once your child is satisfied with the diagnosis, each patient leaves with instructions. A piece of paper with a drawing of the patient and markings indicating the prescription can serve as official documentation.

Some children will want to follow up - the story continues as long as the child wants it to.

Foster creativity with Dinkum World

Every character from the Dinkum World arrives with a name, a personality, and a backstory. We include these details as an invitation for owners to build upon: your own story that no one else can replicate. 

Touch the rainbow over a Dinkum's heart. Close your eyes. You're already there.

Explore the Dinkum family at dinkumdolls.com