Mini Medical School · six printable missions · ages 3–9
I'm Dr. Sam Reeder, an ER physician and mom of two. Mini Medical School is six 25-to-40-minute missions that teach kids how doctors actually think: notice a clue, test an idea, explain your reasoning. Real X-rays, real ultrasound scans, a marker "germ" trail, a pulse you can count. Two of them are free.
Every mission: two age tracks (3–5 and 6–9) · household materials · certificate at the end
Every mission runs the same way
The teaching move: "What do you notice? What would you predict? What else could explain it?"
Because it's how I work a shift. And because a four-year-old can already do it.
When a child comes into my ER, I don't guess from one clue. I ask what happened, I look, I test an idea, and I say out loud what I still don't know. That habit is the whole of medicine and most of science, and kids pick it up fast when it's attached to their own heartbeat or a real picture of a broken arm.
So each mission is built around one question a kid actually asks. Why does my heart speed up? How do doctors see inside an arm? How can something invisible travel? They make a prediction, run a small experiment with things from the kitchen drawer, and then work a pretend case as a "clue collector". Nobody is scored on getting the right answer. They're celebrated for noticing, asking a good question, and handing off to an adult.
Free · no email, no checkout
Print them this afternoon. If your kid asks for more, the other five missions are below. There's a free first-aid page too, on the Little Helpers page.
The case of Teddy's three clues. Ages 3–9, 4 pages.
Why does my heart speed up? Ages 3–9, 8 pages, the full mission format.
Each one is an 8-or-9-page PDF: playbook, science map, experiment, worksheet, mission cards, older-kid challenge, answer key and certificate.
Why does my heart speed up?
Captain Heart sends oxygen-carrying blood on a delivery route. The lungs add oxygen from the air. What changes when your legs start marching?
Count a wrist pulse for 15 seconds at rest, march for 30 seconds, count again. Predict first. The older track repeats it and compares.
How do doctors investigate an injury?
Teddy says an arm hurts after a tumble. Detective Bone needs clues, a grown-up and a gentle plan. A picture of a bone is only one part of the story.
Build a paper-tube bone and a flat strip and press each: which shape resists bending? Then compare two real X-rays, a normal wrist and a fractured forearm.
How can something invisible travel?
A mystery dot starts on one pretend doorknob. Which surfaces might share its trail? We can model transfer without using real germs.
A grown-up colours one fingertip, touches three paper circles in order, and the kids trace the fading trail. Then 20 seconds of proper handwashing.
How does a message become movement?
An eye sees a yellow card. The brain makes sense of the clue. A message travels to muscles, and a hand waves. Can you trace the path?
Blue means wave, yellow means clap. Then swap to spoken cues and notice how attention and practice change the game, without ranking anyone.
Which clue would you ask for next?
You are the clue collector. A real doctor doesn't guess from one clue: they ask questions, observe, and decide what help is needed with a care team.
Four pretend cases (the fall, the fast breathing, the mystery bottle, the warm forehead). Sort fact from guess, pick the next question, hand off calmly to an adult.
Can sound help us see inside?
Make a safe pretend probe from a sock and a TV remote, play the echo game, find three organ neighbourhoods on a body map, then compare three real ultrasound scans of a heart, a liver and a kidney.
Match each real scan to its organ and its job. Buyers also get links to three short clips of the same organs moving in a live scan, so kids can see what a printed frame can't show.
One-time payment. Instant download, and a copy of the link in your inbox. Print as many as your own family or classroom needs.
Pick any of missions 2–6
$7
8–9 pages · 25–40 minutes
The whole Mini Medical School
$19
49 pages · six afternoons
Mini Medical School + Little Helpers
$39
94 pages · save $9 more
Secure checkout by Stripe. After paying you land on a download page and get the link by email. For one household or classroom; please don't redistribute the files. Questions? DM @adventureswithdrmom.
Yes, on the 3–5 track. It's 15–20 minutes, mostly pointing, moving and telling a grown-up what they see. The 6–9 track adds predictions, comparisons and the "explain your reasoning" step.
No. Each playbook gives you the exact questions to ask and a grown-up answer key. The teaching move is always the same: what do you notice, what would you predict, what else could explain it.
Yes. Two public-domain paediatric films from Wikimedia Commons, a normal wrist and a forearm fracture, from different children and credited on the page. The ultrasound stills in Mission 6 are real scans too, credited the same way, and buyers get links to three short clips of a heart, liver and kidney moving in a live scan. The lesson is that a picture alone never rules an injury in or out.
Yes. The mission cards are written for partners or a classroom, and every mission works as a station. One purchase covers your own class.
Any. Start with the free Heart & Lungs Lab to learn the format. Mission 5, You Be the ER Doctor, pulls the others together, so it's a good finale.