Surely, teaching fire safety to young
children in a non-threatening way is one of the most important things we,
as educators, can do. By teaching our students concepts such as Stop,
Drop, and Roll, and other fire safety tips, we give children a sense of
empowerment and safety in a sometimes-unpredictable world. We hope you’ll
find this issue’s activities and Web sites to be useful resources in your
classroom during Fire Prevention Week, October 9 to 15.
Education
World's Early Childhood Education Newsletter, September 30, 2005
ACTIVITY
IDEAS
EGG CARTON FIRE TRUCKS
Give each child the lid from an egg carton. Let each child paint his
or her lid red. While the paint dries, invite children to trace and cut
out circles from black construction paper. These can be glued on the lid
for the wheels. Give each child a ladder cut out of black paper to glue on
top of the “fire engine.” Finally let children glue a small bit of red
foil onto the front as a light.
MAKE IT RED
Use the color red as a theme when teaching about fire safety: Invite
children to draw red fire trucks, red fire hats, red fire extinguishers,
or any other red fire elements you have discussed. At the end of the day,
serve children a red treat such as red suckers, red apples, or red juice,
for jobs well done.
FIND THE EXITS
Plan to take children on a walk around your school to hunt for EXIT
signs. Talk about their purposes and, if possible, turn off other lights
to let children see that the EXIT signs remain bright. Follow up by having
children create their own EXIT signs to take home and hang in appropriate
place.
GET LOW AND GO
Discuss with children the importance of crawling low to the floor when
trying to exit through smoke. Explain that the air is cooler and cleaner
near the floor. Then ask two children to hold opposite ends of a bed
sheet. Those children can shake the bed sheet to make “smoke.” Invite the
rest of the children to practice crawling low on their hands and knees to
escape through the “smoke.”
DOGS AND DOTS
Cut out one set of ten Dalmatian fire dogs. On each write a different
number from 1 to 10. Stick red dots on each dog to correspond to the
number written on the dog. Provide a supply of Red Hots? (little red
candies) for students to use as counters. Place the dogs and the Red Hots
in your math center. Let individual children enjoy using Red Hots to match
and count the red spots. Kids love it -- especially because they are using
candy as counters.
ON
THE WEB
Check out the following Web sites for more background and activities.
Fire Safety: Activities to Spark
Learning
Lesson ideas from Education World.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson026.shtml
National Fire Protection Association
This helpful site is one of the best fire-safety resources.
www.nfpa.org
Sparky the Fire Dog
Share with your students the story of Sparky, the NFPA’s spotted fire
dog.
http://www.nfpa.org/sparky/story.html
U.S. Fire Administration for Kids
Coloring pages and other activities teach kids all about home fire
safety.
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/flash.shtm
Smokey Kids
Choose from 14 coloring pages featuring Smokey Bear.
http://www.smokeybear.com/kids/games_color.asp
Illinois Firesafe Kids
A comprehensive fire safety site complete with a House of Hazards.
http://www.state.il.us/kids/fire/
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