International Nurses Day | EYFS & KS1 Activity Ideas

**Note: This page is for educational inspiration and is not officially affiliated with International Nurses Day. International Nurses Day is celebrated annually on May 12th. It was established by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in 1965 to honour the invaluable contributions of nurses to society. The date was chosen to commemorate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), the founder of modern nursing. The day's purpose is to celebrate and recognise nurses' vital role in providing care, promoting health, and saving lives. The ICN coordinates the day, providing an international theme and resources to highlight the important work of nurses worldwide. For official information, themes, and resources, please visit the International Council of Nurses (ICN) website: www.icn.ch.

Tuesday 12th May 2026

Understanding International Nurses Day in EYFS & KS1

Let's celebrate the amazing nurses who help us feel better! 👩‍⚕️🧑‍⚕️

For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, this day provides a fantastic and practical theme for exploring people who help us, health and well-being, empathy, role-play, and personal, social & emotional development (PSED). It's about helping children understand the role of nurses and other healthcare professionals in our community, appreciating their kindness, and learning what they can do to keep themselves healthy. This day offers wonderful planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about health and community helpers both essential and inspiring!

Why Is Learning About Nurses Important for Young Children?

Integrating International Nurses Day and themes of healthcare and community helpers into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) builds an understanding of the world, fosters empathy, and reduces any fears they might have about medical professionals.

• Familiarises Children with Medical Professionals: Helps children feel comfortable and safe around nurses, doctors, and dentists.

• Fosters Empathy and Kindness: Encourages children to appreciate people who care for others and to be kind themselves.

• Teaches About Health and Well-being: Reinforces the importance of looking after our bodies, staying healthy, and seeking help when we are poorly.

• Develops Social & Emotional Skills: Role-play scenarios allow children to explore emotions like being poorly or helping a poorly friend.

• Builds Community Awareness: Highlights the important roles people play in our community to keep us all safe and well.

• Encourages Critical Thinking: Prompts children to think about what is wrong and how they can help to fix it.

Engaging Nurses & Health Activities for International Nurses Day (0-7 Year Olds)

Let's pretend to be nurses and help our poorly friends feel better for International Nurses Day with these planning ideas and activities perfect for EYFS and KS1 children. The focus is on appreciating nurses, learning about health, and using our imaginations to help others! Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by our dedicated 'Medicine: Doctors and Nurses', 'Stay Healthy', and 'Kindness and Friendship' resources.

Here's some inspiration for celebrating International Nurses Day in your setting: (Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken.)

• Role-Playing a Doctor's Surgery or Hospital:

  • Set up a dramatic role-play area using the resources provided, such as a doctor's surgery or hospital.

  • Use our ‘Doctors Surgery Role-Play Pack’, and 'Dentist Dramatic Role-Play Pack' to provide props, forms, and signage.

  • The 'Poorly Teddy' resources are perfect for this! Use 'Poorly Teddy - A4 Posters’ - to help children diagnose and care for the teddy bears.

  • Use our 'Medical Word Mat' to help children learn new words related to health and medicine.

• Encouraging Critical Thinking:

  • Use 'What Happened To Teddy? - Critical Thinking' as a prompt to get children thinking about how they can help a poorly toy. This encourages problem-solving and empathy.

  • Use our 'X-Ray Multimats' to get children to imagine what an X-ray shows and what they might need to do to help an animal with a poorly bone.

• Celebrating Our Health and Kindness:

  • Have a discussion about the importance of being kind to others, especially when they are poorly, linking to our ‘Kindness and Friendship’ page.

  • Talk about different ways we can stay healthy and avoid getting sick, linking to our ‘Stay Healthy’ page.

  • Discuss how nurses and other health professionals can help us, and how we can show them that we appreciate them.

• Connecting to Other Themes:

  • Learn about the human body and how it works, so we can better understand how to keep it healthy. This links to our ‘The Human Body’ page.

  • Talk about washing our hands to stop the spread of germs, linking to our ‘Handwashing and Hygiene’ page.

• Explore More: Please visit our ‘Medicine: Doctors and Nurses’ page to explore our extensive catalogue of resources on this theme. You may also like to explore additional pages covering relevant and/or connected themes such as ‘Exercise’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Sun Safety’, and ‘Teeth and Oral Health’.

These activities offer great inspiration for making International Nurses Day a memorable and impactful experience in your early years and Key Stage One setting, fostering empathy, community awareness, health literacy, and a lifelong appreciation for the caring work of nurses.

To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.

Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘International Nurses Day’

Free ‘Health’ resources for EYFS & KS1:

The following is a small selection of our inspirational ‘Health’ resources for EYFS & KS1:

(Please visit our ‘Medicine’, ‘The Human Body’, ‘Exercise’, ‘Handwashing & Hygiene’, ‘Eye Health’, ‘Teeth & Oral Health’, ‘Food’ (Fruit & Vegetables plus Balanced Diet), ‘Mental Health’, ‘Sun Safety’ or ‘Science’ pages to explore our extensive catalogue of Health resources.)

Additional Pages you may like to explore which cover relevant &/or Connected themes

More Early Years Event Pages for May

Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children

Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!

SEARCH ‘LITTLE OWLS Resources’ USING THE FOLLOWING MENU BUTTONS…

Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'International Nurses Day'. We are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), which established this event. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this event. For official information, themes, and resources, please visit the International Council of Nurses (ICN) website: www.icn.ch.