First Aid Kits for Kids: 10 Items You Should Keep in Your Kids’ Medical Kit, from School Nurses

Shared on 11 April 2022, by Rowan

First Aid Kits for Kids: 10 Items You Should Keep in Your Kids’ Medical Kit, from School Nurses

School nurses are a pillar in the educational community, and also a great resource for parents on kids' health. Providing first aid and taking care of your kids during minor emergencies is the main role of a school nurse. A school nurse’s daily work ranges with almost anything – whether they are checking for a concussion, providing allergy medication such as Epi-Pens, or simply getting some Neosporin and a bandaid on a scraped knee. They also help determine if your child is so ill that they need emergency medical attention, or maybe just the rest of the day at home.

School nurses are truly one of the best resources out there to help parents be aware of what the best medical supplies for kids are. It can be tricky to navigate what medical supplies for kids you should have at home constantly, to avoid having to pick them up when your child actually needs them. It can also be used as a guide for parents on medical supplies to bring with them when traveling with children.

Read more for a list of the medical supplies we have put together from school nurse recommendations on kids’ health kits! School nurses can even use this as a guide on what items to order during the back-to-school season.

This first one might be a bit obvious, but a general first aid kit is a great item to have on hand. School nurses have consistently recommended Welly’s First Aid due to its metal exterior, which makes it durable and sturdy. Its shape also means it is a lot easier to organize inside than a first aid kit that is a bag. This is useful in children’s emergencies because you don’t want to be fumbling about for five minutes. Welly’s First Aid Kit is also great because it comes with differently-sized bandages, single-use antibiotic ointments, and hydrocortisone anti-itch cream.

A few ice packs are absolutely critical in a children’s medical kit. Sure, you might have an old, frozen bag of peas in your freezer, but what happens when a child is bruised and you realize that old bag was thrown out a month ago? Disposable ice packs are also much easier to use, and they activate very quickly and easily. Additionally, frozen packs of food can cause minor ice burns if applied directly to skin! Do you really want to spend time wrapping that frozen bag of peas in a paper towel (especially when your kid is crying)?

Here’s a neat trick that most people don’t know comes in really handy with first aid kits for kids. If you’re a new school nurse or a new parent looking for kids' medical supplies, remember to keep a few packs of saltines on hand! Saltine crackers are the key to many children’s medical issues. And unlike candy, they’re often not prohibited by schools. Saltine crackers are easily digestible and can help greatly with nausea. They’re a bland starchy food without a strong scent or taste, which makes saltines great for satisfying hunger and nausea.

A tympanic thermometer or an ear thermometer, is one of the most accurate thermometer types out there. While digital thermometers have come a long way, you don’t want to risk accuracy with a thermometer, especially with younger children or higher grade fevers. When each degree change is crucial for determining how bad a fever is, it’s best to stick with the good stuff.

Stop the bleeding! Let’s be frank. If you have ever interacted with kids of any age, or if you so much as have a single memory from childhood, then you know one thing for certain: kids are prone to injury. This might be something as small as a paper cut, but it could also be a bigger cut from falling off a tree or the swings. There are also plenty of unexpected injuries that happen, like dog bites. Emergency medical help may not always be nearby, and kids can get even more scared if there’s a lot of blood. Bleedstop is great for any of these situations. Best of all, it works really fast and it doesn’t sting!

Chewable aspirin is one of those items that many adults never think about. After all, you probably already have aspirin or a different pain reliever tablet at home. Kids can get headaches too, though. However, many kids, especially younger ones, might not be willing or even able to swallow a pill when they are in pain. Some sweet-flavored, chewable aspirin can be an easy solution to a child’s pain.

So your kid’s teeth have started coming out. Maybe they just fell out on their own, or maybe your child hit the ground while running across the park a little bit too hard. Either way, school nurses highly recommend having a tooth preservation kit somewhere at home. These kits can preserve a tooth for up to a day, they are small and easy to carry, and they also last for two years. They don’t require refrigeration or anything else, either. This makes these an easy choice for dealing with kids’ dental emergencies. If you live anywhere near trees, or if you have wooden furniture at home or in school, you’re going to want to make sure you keep a pair of tweezers in your kids’ medical kit. Splinters are easy to get, but they can be a pain to remove without tweezers. They can even be dangerous, giving a risk for infection if you’re not using tweezers and antibiotic ointment (included in the Welly’s First Aid Kit discussed in the first tip).

Gauze and gauze pads go hand in hand with each other. These are helpful with large, shallow scrapes that can be difficult to cover with a single polka dot bandaid. These are a necessity for both school nurses and parents. You never know when your kid might scrape their knee running on a sidewalk or falling off of a bike. Self-adhering gauze is great for kids' minor emergencies because you don’t need to fiddle around looking for tape to go with it. Pedialyte is important to have on hand for kids, especially in warmer weather. It has delicious flavors, and it is medical-grade hydration. Kids can easily run themselves out with their friends. They’re often not thinking about whether they have had enough water and food. Additionally, Pedialyte is great for nausea and general sickness – especially if a child is feeling nauseous or lethargic.

This list has been created with the help of Share-A-Cart. Share-A-Cart is a free tool that helps you share the entire cart with anyone else with only a single click on dozens of online retailers and millions of web stores. Simple. Easy. Faster shopping for all.

Back to Blog