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Two Buddies Hospital 1

The emergency room is opening! Your child and a friend become little doctors and care for toy patients together, taking turns and working as a team.

  • 2½ years
  • Quick prep
  • At home
  • About 30 minutes
Focus
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Developmental benefits

  • Social/Emotional：As they set up the emergency room and share jobs caring for their patients, your child practices taking turns, waiting, communicating, and working together.
  • Cognitive：Pretend play supports symbolic thinking as your child uses words and actions to recreate familiar experiences.

Preparation

What You’ll Need

  1. 1

    Stuffed animal

  2. 2

    toy medical kit

  3. 3

    white paper and markers

  4. 4

    hospital sign made by drawing a red cross on the paper

Step 1

Set Up the Emergency Room

Invite another child over for a pretend-play activity. Let the children set up the space together. They can be the doctors, while the adults play nurses and the stuffed animals are the patients. Once everything is ready, use your best nurse voice to announce that the first patients have arrived.

What to notice

  • Helps another child set up the emergency room Relationships with Other Children
  • Recalls what a hospital is like and names familiar items found there Memory

Tips

  • Along with the toy medical kit, tape a red cross sign to the wall and draw check-in cards for the “patients” to make the play area feel more like a hospital.
  • If the children reach for the same toy, offer similar toys or give each child a different job: “You set out the stethoscope, and you organize the bandages.”
  • If the children seem shy, each adult can model offering or sharing a toy with the other child to help the interaction get started.

Step 2

Doctors and Nurses Team Up

Pair each adult with their own child to care for a patient. Describe what is wrong and ask what the patient needs. If your child is unsure, demonstrate with a tool and ask, “What should we do next?” Once your child knows the routine, bring in a new patient—such as a puppy—that needs everyone’s help.

What to notice

  • Pretends to be a doctor, using medical tools to figure out what is wrong Imitation and Symbolic Representation and Play
  • Asks you to hold the “patient” still while treating them Relationships with Adults

Tips

  • Use the patient’s features to start the story. For example, pretend that a dinosaur’s horn is a big bump that needs care.
  • When your child asks for help, follow their directions by handing over a tool or holding the patient steady.
  • If they do not ask, gently say, “Need help?”

Step 3

Doctors Work Together

Encourage the children to treat the patient together. Add a new symptom now and then to keep the story going. If they are unsure how to work together, break the treatment into simple jobs and let the little doctors take turns. When the patient feels better, remember to thank the doctors.

What to notice

  • Works with another child to help the patient, such as taking the pretend medicine from them Relationships with Other Children
  • Looks at you proudly after successfully “treating” the patient Emotional Functioning

Tips

  • Help your child wait while they take turns: “Is your friend finished? When they’re done, it’s your turn.”
  • Invite teamwork: “Oh no, our patient is very sick! All the little doctors need to help.”
  • Thank the doctors in the patient’s voice so they can enjoy the feeling of helping someone and end the game on a happy note.

Better Parenting Content Team · Updated September 11, 2026