Kids have an endless interest in medical games.

In fact, I guess all of us have a fascination with doctors and nurses. They are some of the most interesting people we come across. They wear special uniforms. They have shiny instruments and machines that perform mysterious tasks. Perhaps, most importantly of all, everyones takes them very, very seriously. Why wouldn't we want to look into the puzzling world of these professionals? And what better way of exploring any subject than with interesting and exciting games?

Some of the games here have real educational content. Some are just for fun. One or two seem a little bit cruel (to me at least). The thing that holds them all together is that they are fun to play.

Baby Hospital

There are lot of very cute looking babies to look after in this online nurse game. The babies need putting to bed, bathing, medicine, new diapers and milk. There is a lot to do to keep everyone happy!

When the game first comes up click the top one of the two boxes in the bottom right hand corner. After that, the game is easy to learn but difficult to stop playing!

baby_hospital

Heart Op

This is a simplified version of a heart operation. There are 13 steps and you need to get them all right. There is plenty of help along the way and plenty to learn in an absorbing game.

heart operation game

Organise

A simple but addictive game that appeals to kids who like organising things. It's all a question of paying attention to what patient needs which organ (heart, liver lungs etc) and making sure that they get them. The clock is ticking so if you are too slow, your patient is no more.

organise

Operation Mania

There is a fun take on 'ER' in this game.. You are helping Doctor Humorus cope with some of the strange patients with even stranger symptoms who come into your hospital. There are 2 game modes, a lot of fun characters and plenty of interesting ways to cure your patients.

http://www.ea.com/free/operation-mania

Diabetic Dog Game

The cute dog above is sick with diabetes and needs someone to care for him. You can adopt him if you want to. You give him a name then read about what diabetes is. After that, you need to look after him carefully, making sure he gets the right food, exercise and sometimes an injection.

If you look after him well enough, you are given some money to spend on food or things like a bowl or doghouse. When you finish playing with him and looking after him you click 'save'. Then. you can go back another day and look after him again.

Some people get completely hooked on this game.The terrible thing is, if you don't look after him well enough he is 'removed from the data base". Sigh...

Learning to keep him healthy is difficult at the beginning. Once you understand how to keep his illness under control, it all gets much easier. Then there is plenty of time to play.

If you know anyone with diabetes this will give you a much better of what it is all about,

games/medicine/insulin/

This game is from the Nobel Prize educational games website. There are many other games here: nobelprize games/

Pandemic 2

This is a game that lets you take the role of an infection that threatens the whole world. To win, humanity needs to be defeated. Luckily, it is not that easy. People are a hard nut to crack.

This is a sort of medical strategy game that needs an understanding of all the things an infection like swine flu needs to do to spread to every corner of the world. Governments try to keep you from infecting their countries. People develop resistances. Symptoms start to be recognised.

If you want a real challenge this might be the game for you. A caution though, this game will probably be too difficult for younger children.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/pandemic-2

If you get stuck and just have to win why not try this video walkthrough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBjIhr2QXpA