October is officially fire safety and prevention month! We all know the importance of teaching our little ones all about fire safety, but how do we make it fun? While fires are certainly no laughing matter, children are much more likely to retain information if you give it is fun. That doesn’t mean that your entire lesson needs to be fun and games, but it doesn’t hurt to mix in hands on activities throughout your lesson. For my own children, I usually do a mix of videos, songs, books, crafts and a small amount of educational lecture to match their grade levels. And because fires can be scary to a child, you do want to be careful to not scare them. They need to respect and understand fire, but not lose sleep every night worrying about a fire happening to them!
All About Fire Safety
I have created a short, illustrated reader all about fire safety that you can either print or present using PowerPoint or a pdf viewer. This story talks about the important facts that children need to know, such as how fires can start, what to do in a fire and things that can help to keep them and their family safe.
After the reader, there are lots of educational (and fun!) activities for your child or students to complete. These include comprehension/discussion questions about the reader, two different writing prompts, safe/not safe picture sort, fire safety plan, and a cute firetruck craft (see below).
Fire Truck Craft
If you looking for a simple craft for fire safety, then this is it! This craft teaches basic shapes and how colors mix together to make new colors too! The all about fire safety activity set comes with the template that you will need for this activity. The truck is made up of basic shapes that you can cut out ahead of time or allow your child to cut. There are also too different versions of the ladder (one piece/multiple pieces) depending on your child’s skill level.
Once you have cut out the pieces using different colors of construction paper, they can be assembled onto a black background. You could also use white, but I find that black helps the “fire” stand out more. To make the fire, simply put some red and some yellow paint on a paper plate. Then, have your child dip the back of a plastic fork into the paint and stamp it onto the paper. I encouraged my child to keep it all in one area, building the size of the fire with each stamp, but wherever they put it is fine! They will be amazed to see how they end up with not only red and yellow, but orange as well!
Looking for more great educational and fun activities? Here are some great activities to check out!
If you are a homeschooling parent or teacher, you can also check out these two great companies for even more great educational activities and ideas!
