Ideas for elementary school presentation

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Specializes in CVICU.

I am going to be a career presentor for 2nd-graders, and would like to hear your ideas for engaginging these kids for about 15-20 minutes. Now, last week a police officer parent had the kids go outside and look over the treetops, and then a real helicopter flew over! Then, he let them sit in his car and turn on the lights and sirens. I'm thinking it's going to be pretty tough to top the cop! The best I can come up with is let them pair up and listen to their partners heartbeat with the stethoscope! Ideas, please, our job is cool too!

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I know there are some organizations out there that have "I Want to be a Nurse When I Grow Up" coloring books...if you have enough time to find them and get them, that might be good. That's not really the presentation, but it could be something at the end. Lol, let them start IVs on each other! Umm...play head and shourlder knees and toes...or teach them some funny medical words...show them their radial pulses? But don't (DON'T) show them where their carotid pulses are, or they might make themselves pass out (happened to a friend of mine when she was presenting to a boy scout den, yikes!!).

It's scary that I'm drawing a blank here! Can you bring in the teaching aspect of it? You get to take care of people and you get to teach them a lot, and show them how to do things, etc. I'm trying to put this into a second grade point of view. Of course, my senior year of high school, I specifically said, "I will never be a nurse"...maybe I'm not the best one to help you, lol! Good luck!

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Specializes in critical care transport.

Hmmm

I think the stethescope thing is a neat idea. You can give a short bandage lesson? Can you get a monitor that makes beeps or lights up? Bring in some scrubs to "dress up" in? Bring in a pile of thank you cards from people who have appreciated your help? Maybe pictures of different types of nursing jobs (school nurse, ER, operating, doctor office, etc).

If you had some sound bytes of respirations or heart sounds, that would be cool. Let them listen to a normal lung sound, then listen to wheezes, and ask which one sounds normal? Show them where they can locate their pulse? How about a handwashing demonstration with the special lotion that glows in the dark and talk about germs and how you "kill them"? (Which could tie into a lesson on infection, WBC, affectionately called "soldier cells" to help combat infection or spread of disease.) That would be useful information for kids that put their hands in their mouth.

I hope this helped. Maybe even some xrays that they could see in the light would be neat.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

How fun!! I spoke to my daughters 4th grade class a few years ago,..we played w/the stethescope, looked at Xrays, I took a jelco cath (23g) to show "the straw" that's actually left in your arm, not the needle,....what appeared to be the biggest hit was the petri (sp) dishes,..the lab where I work gave me 6 that would "grow anything" (they were red) I had all the kids wash their hands, then they were allowed to gently touch one finger to the dish,..we taped them closed w/ instructions for the kids to watch them for three days,(w/out opening them) all six plates grew stuff,.after the three days the teacher threw them away,..maybe even one of those kids now thinks twice about how well they wash their hands???? ;)

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Specializes in Case Management.

You might include bringing a box of disposable latex or plastic gloves for the kids to try on.

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Specializes in RN, Cardiac Step Down/Tele Unit.

Maybe not as fun as a helicopter, but when I was in kindergarten, my mom, a nurse, came to my class to teach proper handwashing. If you could get one of those black lights and let them see what is on their hands before and after washing, that might be fun!

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Specializes in CVICU.

These are all really good...keep 'em coming!

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