small children... help!

Re: small children... help!

Katie Murphy RVN — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:06:52 GMT

It went really well! Got through about 60 little uns and they all seemed to enjoy it.

claim to fame ;

http://www.thecrescentprimary.com/classpages_detail.asp?Section=103&Ref=170

Re: small children... help!

Katie Murphy RVN — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:38:44 GMT

Thanks for all the help! I had to postpone due to being poorly sick with a cold...... howeer am going to try again with al the suggestions you guys hae put forward!

Re: small children... help!

Claire Coulthard RVN — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:08:10 GMT

hi,

we had the vets daughters class come for a visit once and we asked them all to bring in a toy pet so we could 'bandage' their poorly legs, ears, tails, heads etc. by the end we must have bandaged some of those 'pets' entire bodies as they loved it so much!

Re: small children... help!

Claire Cameron — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:55:52 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]then this shy little voice asked if they could ask a question -so we had to hush everybody else up so they could be heard. was dreading what they might askand in the finish the question was ...... what had I had for breakfast - i then got a lecture from a 5 year old why it was important to have breakfast.[/quote]

Aw that's sweet

Re: small children... help!

Sal the 1st — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:49:51 GMT

i did one of these and was asked why do animals die and what happens to them when they do die ( really didnt expect that as an opening question) managed to get through that one and then this shy little voice asked if they could ask a question -so we had to hush everybody else up so they could be heard. was dreading what they might askand in the finish the question was ...... what had I had for breakfast - i then got a lecture from a 5 year old why it was important to have breakfast.

Re: small children... help!

Steph Phillips — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:25:45 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]

[quote user="mrs mac"]

I love all the random questions they ask coupled with the enevitable statement 'I had a dog/hamster/cat/rabbit/fish but it died'.

[/quote]

We got that question!!! "my sister had a guinea pig, it died...why did it die?"...umm...it must have been poorly!!!!

[/quote]

haha.. we went to a school on monday so see yr1 & reception.. and this one kid says to the other nurse :

Kid "my cat has never visited the vets before"

Nurse "well, if he;s not been ill, thats a good thing"

Kid "no - he's dead now"

Nurse "ohh thats not good"

haha,, how I never laughed out loud, i'll never know!! kids are great, they just say it how it is.. no messing!! lol

Re: small children... help!

Claire Cameron — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:15:12 GMT

[quote user="Kerry 'kezzathecat' Haigh RVN"]

Did someone mention small children?? ... *shudder*...

[/quote]

My thoughts entirely. One of our clients bought their 10 day old baby in today and everyone was cooing over it whilst I looked blankly like 'whats the big deal?!' and tried to avoid holding it at all costs

Re: small children... help!

Vicky RVN — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:12:12 GMT

[quote user="mrs mac"]

I love all the random questions they ask coupled with the enevitable statement 'I had a dog/hamster/cat/rabbit/fish but it died'.

[/quote]

We got that question!!! "my sister had a guinea pig, it died...why did it die?"...umm...it must have been poorly!!!!

Re: small children... help!

Kim Buckley — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:06:13 GMT

When I was at uni I went and did a talk thing for some kids who were about to start their GCSE's. We made them match dog breeds to pictures, identify bones and other bits and bobs. We asked them about their pets and one girl said she had a hamster but her big brother threw it out of the window!!!

Re: small children... help!

Emma Bartlett — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:48:39 GMT

The kennel club do the safe and sound scheme about teaching children how to behave around dogs and what to do if you're approached by a strange dog. The website has information and worksheets you can download

Re: small children... help!

Mac Feather — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:37:06 GMT

I love all the random questions they ask coupled with the enevitable statement 'I had a dog/hamster/cat/rabbit/fish but it died'.

Re: small children... help!

Steph Phillips — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:09:25 GMT

I'm doing one today ... have done them before.. I take my my border terrier and have them listen to her heart and look at her teeth, nails etc.. also take in pics of fleas, ticks, worms - old xrays, some equipment.. I'm sure I'll think of other stuff - but my mind is a bit blank! lol

Re: small children... help!

kaz84 — Sun, 09 May 2010 09:42:31 GMT

i do regular talks to prep students (5-6 years) 30 students x 4 talks. its exhausting but so rewarding in the end. my talks usually take 20 mins, where we talk about basic care (water, food, shelter) medical care - this involves taking syringes, ophthalmoscope, otoscope, stethoscope ( kids try to guessthe names,,, some are so close :) ) i take grooming equipment ie brushes, nail clippers, we also talk about safety when approaching a dog. we take ticks, worms, heart worm models and pass them around the room for the students to look at. i also take the vets dog (bichon) and show the kids how to perform an examination. at the end of the talk the kids all line up and "Listen to the heartbeat of the dog" this involves holding the dog, kids have to ask if they can pat the dog, then use the stethoscope to listen.... inorder to get a heartbeat, the nurse wtill just hide and tap it lightly with their finger... works a treat and the looks on their faces is just priceless when they think they are actually listening to the dogs heart ... all kids get a goodie bag with crayons, colour in sheet, stickers and tattoos.. they love it :D

Re: small children... help!

Vicky RVN — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:09:07 GMT

Kerry runs and hides!!!!

Re: small children... help!

Kerry Spain — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:07:16 GMT

Did someone mention small children?? ... *shudder*...

Re: small children... help!

Vicky RVN — Sat, 08 May 2010 23:25:21 GMT

Hi hon, good to hear from you

First of all, good luck and enjoy it! Leanne and i did a day at a junior school a few weeks ago, was very tiring but had a lovely day! Kids generally love animals, so they are interested in you. Our day was for year 6 children, had an hour or so with each class so was obv a bit different to what you're doing. We took in microchip toys, stethoscope, gowns. We laminated pictures of foods and asked them for dogs/cats/rabbits if they should or shouldn't have them. And had pictures of healthy and not healthy skin/teeth/eyes etc. Talked about pretty much every area of pet care! I also took my pigs in, which went down very well!!! The children had SO many questions to ask we didn't have time to answer them all!

I hope it goes well x

Re: small children... help!

Mrs Dot Dot — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:23:13 GMT

Take some touchy feely stuff like different size syringes for them to play with, if time dressing up stuff goes down really well.... vet, surgeon, nurse, etc- masks, gloves, gowns, vet scrub tops, stethoscopes .... the teachers always seem to like the extra long orange plastic exam gloves used for large animal stuff!! Make sure beforehand the teacher has a camera to take photos of them.

Another thing that went down well, took up some time and also gave some direction was that they had all prepared some questions beforehand in class to be answered by me.... I thought this was a great idea and the teacher was also really good.... Always let the teacher know how you are feeling as I have found that they will most of the time help out by taking control and directing the chidren/questions/ situations etc and they also know more about what has been talked about/ what they want to get out of the session.

Bandaging they absolutely love... just take plenty of smiley face/ dog paw petflex and soffban, and be prepared to bandage alot of fingers... they love the petflex because it can be taken off and put back on again.

Keep things short as well.

Good luck... I've only had one disastrous one with a class of 4-5yr olds and a teacher from the dark ages! All the rest have been good fun and I've thoroughly enjoyed them. Everything will be great!

Re: small children... help!

Katie Murphy RVN — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:18:12 GMT

Hello :) Yeah I;m fine thanks, hope things are going well for you! Thats a good idea, I'm going to check out that website. I did think about asking them about their own pets but that could go down badly if somethings just been PTS'd or died

Re: small children... help!

Phrin Vernon RVN — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:14:10 GMT

I've never done this personally, but last year one of our vets and nurses went to a school, and did a talk for approx 5 years old. I'm not sure what they talked about, apart from the fact they 'dripped' a toy dog....

A couple of weeks late we got a lovely laminated book, with all the childrens drawings and comments in ... and 99% of them were about the drip!

So I would reckon chips, bandages, drips - maybe also talk to them about how the vet needs to be super clean when he/she is making poorly animals better - and then let them play with gowns and gloves!

Kids love practical stuff! So toy dogs and accessories are def the way to go I reckon!

Could you set up a system where each group has 10 mins bandaging, 10 mins stethoscope, 10 mins drip etc?

Re: small children... help!

Honeybadger — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:08:22 GMT

Hey Katie,

Hope you are ok. I did a puppy party recently and had a stuffed toy with a microchip in it. I let the kids there scan the toy and they loved it! I'm sure they'll love the cuddly toy too. I know they're only young but maybe talk a bit about the importance of not touching dogs that they dont know. This website: http://www.thebluedog.org/ is very good.