Paper Dolls For Medical Play Therapy
Just Print & Play!
These dolls can be printed, customized with coloring, laminated, and so much more! You can even add transparent Velcro dots to the doll to use it with many of our medical toys.
We’ve added some fun game and therapeutic play ideas in this post as well. The links to products are affiliate links, at no extra cost to you.
Play Idea: Vein Finder
Vein Finder:
Use light-activated secret pens to draw “veins” on the doll.
You can do this step before or after laminating!
Then you can PLAY, using the light to “find” the best vein. You can talk about where the nurse will look, and how we find the biggest vein to put the IV straw into.
If you don’t have these pens yet, this pack is less than $10 on Amazon!
To use our toys with the paper doll, you can place a transparent Velcro dot like these, and the devices can easily be taken on and off!
Many of our toys can be applied with Velcro, but in the interest of the “Vein Finding” game, you can use the butterfly needle as the IV.
Products that can Velcro to the Paper Doll
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Mini ECG/EKG Play Tool
$55.00 -
Mini Stoma and Ostomy for Doll/ Plush (sewable)
$25.99 -
Butterfly Needle (IV) Play Tool
$15.99 -
Mini Cardiac Monitor Play Tool
$25.99
Customize Your Doll
A simple activity where children can customize their doll however they want.
Coloring the doll, making a gown, adding hair – the options are endless!
Coloring is very therapeutic in itself, but there is something extra magical about children making something that represents themselves.
When undergoing medical care, it can feel a bit depersonalizing — so this activity reminds them that their uniqueness, their preferences, and their needs matter.
These markers are awesome because they are less than $10 but you get 12 DIFFERENT shades of skin tones!!
So not only can you customize your doll’s skin tone, but you could also add birthmarks, freckles, moles, scars, and whatever you feel like makes you, YOU.
Oh, and they can have their cap off for 7 days without going dry. How? I have no clue but I’m loving it.
And if that wasn’t cool enough – they also are a triangle shape! So if you are doing this in the hospital, you don’t have to worry about the markers rolling off the bedside table and onto the dirty hospital floor.
And if that sold you like it did me, here’s a bigger pack that has all 12 skin tones and the extended colors of the rainbow!
These markers are also washable which is neat because that means you can use them on the laminated doll for further teaching and fun!
You can use the red and blue markers to educate about blood flow, heart conditions, and veins.
You can draw bandages, casts, orthotics, and more!
More Play Ideas:
Ouch to Okay: Use markers to draw wound(s) on the laminated doll, and let your child play nurse/doctor!
Body Awareness: Point to different parts of the body and name them! You can even use markers to draw where the organs are underneath the skin!
Inclusion: Play is a safe place to discuss physical differences we may see in our beautifully diverse world. You can use this doll to facilitate conversations around disability, differences, and all of the wonderful ways we are each unique.