Little Medical School - Region of Waterloo

Little Medical School - Region of Waterloo is the very first Canadian based location and offered its first class in February 2018. Our programs are geared towards kids between ages 3 – 12 and are offered in 6 to 12 weeks formats. We work with educators, healthcare leaders, and community organizations to INSPIRE healthy lifestyles in children as they learn about medical careers. Our LMS Trained Instructors are also community members – these individuals range from aspiring world changers, practicing medical providers, and accomplished educators. All programs are written by a board-certified educator and reviewed by board-certified and trained healthcare professionals.

We offer after school classes, camps, birthday parties, in school programs and Kids Night Out. Take a look at all the programs we offer.

Imagination: We believe children need to dream and have opportunities to discover.

Nurturing: We create environments to learn and explore while building self-confidence.

Service: We realize love of medicine requires a commitment to helping others.

Passion: We are energized by our desire to share our love of learning and health.

Innovation: We engage all by merging entertainment and education.

Role-playing: We realize the power of one-on-one AND group interaction.

Educational: We develop unique curriculum to highlight career options.

While all seven values above form the foundation of why we exist and how we conduct business, our most important function is to INSPIRE a greater understanding of health and career options.

Our educational enrichment programs and innovative curriculum include:

After-school Programming

Summer Camps

Holiday/Seasonal Break Camps

Evening and Weekend Classes

Birthday Parties

In-School Field Trips

Kids Night Out

Preschool Classes

The Story of LMS

Little Medical School (LMS) is deeply rooted in Founder Dr. Mary Mason’s love of family, medicine and education. In 1998, Dr. Mason wrote her first lesson plan and enlisted her medical residents to teach local teenagers. This passion for encouraging careers in healthcare culminated in the creation of LMS in 2010. Today, the company is a pioneer and leading developer of specialized curriculum and interactive resources for children aged 1-14.

Dr. Mary Mason - "I am a Doctor's Kid"

"My mother was one of four women in her medical school class in 1954. She loved being a physician and did everything she could to get me, my siblings, our cousins and friends to pursue a career in medicine. As a 6-year-old, I couldn’t wait for her to get home from her office. She would bring me tongue depressors, gauze pads, bandages for my “doctor’s office” in our playroom. I had a little white coat, stethoscope, and an old-fashion black doctor’s bag… and I felt like a real doctor. At Thanksgiving, we would “suture” the stuffed turkey. As I got older, I learn how to give an injection to an orange. I had no doubt in my mind that medicine was an achievable career path for me, even when adults thoughtlessly reminded how many years I would have to go to school, or how hard it would be. It was only later, as a first-year medical student, did I realize how powerful those early experiences were in shaping my conviction to pursue a career in medicine.

In 1998, I was a chief resident in Internal Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, and I decided to recreate my childhood experiences and wrote the first Little Medical School. I recruited fellow residents and medical students to help me teach. Our first class attended by 13 year olds surprised me. They were acting silly and were not embracing the experience as I had hope. I went home and gathered up a basketful of white coats and stethoscope and brought them to the second class and made the students but them on. Dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around their neck, the students were engaged, attentive and having so much fun, they didn’t realize how much they were learning. That was the “Ah-HA” moment. the power of role-play, and this has been a key pillar of all Little Medical School programs.

In addition to inspiring children to see themselves in healthcare careers, we teach real life skills. Students learn what to do in there is a medical emergency, how to use a first aid kit, and how to preventive hypothermia. We also stress the importance of a health care professional being a role model. That means taking care of yourself… eating right, exercising, getting your immunizations and flu shot, and not smoking.

We are dedicated and believe in our mission of inspiring and shaping tomorrow’s healthcare professionals today through our numerous after-school programs, summer camps, birthday parties, special programs and our award-winning line of educational toys. My greatest hope is that future medical, nursing, veterinarian, and pharmacy school classes will be filled with Little Medical School graduates!"