Medical Collage
Updated: Oct 24, 2021
This activity is for preschool or school-age children like yourself! It is a great way to learn about and get used to different pieces of medical supplies that you may see at a hospital or doctor’s office. This collage craft is a fun way to put together lots of different medical equipment in any way you want! As you touch the medical pieces to put on your collage, you can think about how a doctor or nurse uses it to help you feel better. You can also have a lot of fun decorating this collage however you like after!
Supplies:
a piece of paper (any colour, can be construction paper or regular paper)
tape (scotch tape, masking tape, medical tape) or liquid glue
crayons/markers/coloured pencils/glitter pens/glitter glue/stickers, etc. to decorate
safety scissors (only needed if need to cut medical tape or cut medical supplies into smaller pieces)
a variety of medical supplies (e.g. syringe, bandaids, medical gloves, masks, gauze, cotton balls, q tips)
*Tip: If you don’t have any medical supplies at home, you can find a variety at your local drug store or pharmacy. Just use whatever you can find that is medical-related and make sure there are no sharp parts on it (like needles)!
Activity Steps:
Step 1: First, grab a piece of paper of any colour. It can be construction paper or regular paper, of any colour you want! Then, put it on a clean, clear surface, like a table or counter.
Step 2: Then, lay out your medical supplies on the paper and place each item where you want it. You can leave some empty spaces on it between the medical pieces to fill in with your own drawings and decorations later, so it doesn’t have to be completely filled right now! As you lay out our medical supplies, you can remember what each one is used for. Here’s how doctors and nurses use these medical supplies to help us feel better:
A syringe is used to hold important medicine that makes you feel better, and when you push down on the plunger, the medicine comes out the other end through a small opening, and goes into your body safely.
Bandaids make sure your cut stays clean so it can get better faster.
Medical gloves are worn to keep you safe from anything on the doctor or nurse’s hands that may make you sick.
Masks also are worn to help keep you safe from anything from the doctor or nurse’s nose or mouth that may make you sick.
Gauze is a soft cloth you can use to wrap around cuts or scrapes and helps keep the wound clean.
Cotton balls are used to stop bleeding or clean a part of your skin.
Q tips are used for cleaning a small part of your body or to apply medicine to a small part of your body.
Medical tape is used to stick gauze and other bandages to skin around cuts or scrapes so the cuts or scrapes stay clean.
*Tip: You can also make fun shapes or patterns with the medical supplies, such as cutting the mask into hearts or stars or placing the bandaids together in a zig-zag pattern!
Step 3: When you are happy with where everything is placed, pull out a piece of tape (if you are using medical tape, use safety scissors with the help of an adult to cut it), and roll it into a log with the sticky side facing out to make double-stick tape.
Then lift up the first item and place the tape in between the item and paper, and press down on the item firmly so that it sticks to the paper. You can use as much tape as you need to make sure it doesn’t fall off.
*Tip: For round objects, like a syringe, you can pull out a longer piece of tape and place it across the top of the syringe to stick it to the paper so it holds better. Also, if you do not have tape, you can use liquid glue to hold the objects down instead.
Step 4: Repeat for each piece of medical equipment. If you use band-aids, you do not need to use tape since they are already so sticky on the bottom, you can just stick them right on the paper. You could also tape some pictures or memory items (like a hospital wristband, a picture of you in a hospital gown, a decoration from your hospital room) from your visit to the hospital or doctor’s office onto your collage.
*Tip: As you tape each medical piece to the paper, think about how doctors and nurses use it to help us feel better.
Step 5: Next, pick up your collage and shake it around to make sure everything is stuck on really well! If you see something falling off, just add more tape to the bottom and press down firmly until it sticks.
Step 6: Then, you can use your creativity and decorate your collage in the empty spaces (if you have any). You can draw or decorate it however you like! You can use markers, coloured pencils, crayons, glitter glue, stickers, or anything else you have in your house! You can maybe draw some smiley faces if learning about this medical equipment makes you feel happy? Or add some gold stars to show what superstars everyone is for being so brave during a trip to the hospital or doctor’s office!
Step 7: Finally, you can always add more to it later if you think of other medical items to fill it up even more, but if you don’t have anything left to add, you’re all done! Now you can show off what you learned and made today with your family and friends!
~Made by Emma F.