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Dog Eye Doctor: Pet Pretend Play Activity for Preschoolers

Kids will love playing eye doctor to their stuffed dogs with this fun book inspired pretend play activity. Perfect for preschoolers who love dogs! Check out how easy and fun this pet pretend play activity is - you'll love it!

I started wearing glasses when I was four years old, just a little older than my twin boys are now. It was hard being "the kid with the glasses" when I was little, and though my boys don't need them, I want us to be prepared just in case. And if they don't need glasses themselves, I want to make sure that they when they see other kids wearing glasses they realize that it's no big deal. So when Penguin Kids sent me an early copy of a new children's book about a dog who needs glasses I knew I'd found a new favorite, and a great inspiration for some fun pretend play.

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Douglas, You Need Glasses!

Douglas, You Need Glasses! by Ged Adamson is a hilarious new children's book about a dog named Douglas, whose nearsightedness gets him into all sorts of mishaps, like walking through wet cement and going home to the wrong house. After a game of fetch goes terribly wrong, he heads to the eye doctor and finally gets glasses.

Douglas, You Need Glasses!  is perfect for dog lovers like us, and would be a great read before kids head to the eye doctor for the first time. We really enjoyed it and decided to set up our own dog eye doctor's office just like in the book. It's so easy and really fun too!

Pretend Play Dog Eye Doctor's Office

To set up your own pretend play eye doctor's office for dogs,  you'll need:



The set up for this is so simple. Set up a small table with your veterinarian kit and assorted glasses. Set out some small chairs for your "patients". Then create an eye chart out of your large paper or poster board - my boys are all about the alphabet right now so ours was an ABC chart. Hang the chart in front of the chairs and you're ready to open up shop!

After reading Douglas, You Need Glasses!, invite your kids to be the eye doctor for their stuffed dogs, just like Douglas' doctor in the book. My boys had so much fun with this!


They made sure that each dog got a thorough exam. And they took lots of notes as to who needed glasses and who didn't!


They helped their dogs pick out their new glasses too.


Our pretend play Dog Eye Doctor's Office was a big hit! I loved that we explored going to the eye doctor in a way that makes it less scary, and really normalized the idea of needing glasses. We'll definitely be setting this up again and again!

Love this pretend play activity? Try our Pretend Play Pet Grooming Salon too!


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