Fire Prevention Children’s Activities

Dear Parents, In helping your children learn about community helpers try doing the following activities to help your child learn more about the firefighter and fire safety.

Fire Drill

Make a plan for getting out of your home in case of fire and establish a safe place outside for everyone to meet. Practice your plan with your child on a regular basis. At the end of your fire drill, have your child show how he or she would get help by pretending to run to a neighbor’s house and dialing 9-1-1.

Firefighter Hats

For each child, use plain newsprint (or newspaper) to make a folded paper hat. Secure all loose edges with tape. Let the children use crayons or felt-tip markers  to color their hats red. Fold back one corner of each hat and staple it in place. Then attach a yellow construction paper badge shape on which you have written a numeral of the child’s choice. Variation: For each child, trim a large piece of red construction paper into an oval shape. Then use the oval to make a head size version of the firefighter finger puppet hat.

Firefighter Finger Puppets

Let each of the children make one or more firefighter finger puppet hats. For each hat, give a child an oval shape (about 2 inches long) cut from white construction paper. Let the child use a crayon to color both sides of the oval red. Cut out a finger hole, as indicated by the dotted line in the illustration, and fold as indicated by the solid line. Use a black felt tip marker to add a numeral of the child’s choice to the hat. Draw a face on the child’s finger as shown and top the finger with the child’s firefighter hat. Encourage the children to manipulate their puppets while singing songs or telling stories.

Fire Prevention Badges

Cut badge shapes out of white index cards. Let the children decorate their badges with colored felt tip markers or crayons. Use a black tip marker to write one of these sayings on each child’s badge. “(Child’s Name)” does not play with matches or lighters “(Child’s Name)” knows how to stop, drop and roll. “(Child’s Name)” knows how to dial 9-1-1

Fire Truck Scenes

Help the children make fire truck scenes. For each scene, give a child a small house shape and a fire truck shape cut from construction paper. Let the child glue his or her shapes on a plastic foam food tray. When the glue has dried, have the child use felt tip markers to draw smoke and flames coming out of his house. Make a hose for the fire truck by wrapping a small piece of masking tape around one end of a pipe cleaner. Poke the other end through the fire truck shape and secure it with tape to the back of the tray. Let the child wiggle the hose and pretend to put out the fire in the house.

Milk Carton Fire Engine

1. Open container top
2. Cut container top on three sides – separate
3. Cut half way into container
4. Make two folds – tape or glue down
5. Cover the milk carton with paper and have the children design their own fire truck

Cardboard Carton Fire Engine

Select a rectangular cardboard carton to use for making a fire engine. Cut the bottom out of the carton with a craft knife. Open out the two long top flaps. Cut square holes in them as shown to make the flaps into “ladders”. Let the children paint the ladders white and the rest of the carton red. When the paint has dried, attach two small yellow paper plates for headlights and four large black paper plates for wheels. Cut holes for handles in the front and the back of the fire engine. Add a section of garden hose to hang out the back hole. Let the children take turns climbing inside the fire engine and driving it to imaginary fire scenes.

Stop, Drop And Roll

Each time you have a fire drill, talk with the children about how they should “Stop, Drop And Roll” if their clothes catch on fire. Clear a large area in the room or take the children outside to a grassy area. Have the children start walking or running in place. At a given signal, have them stop what they are doing, drop to the floor or ground and roll over and over until the pretend flames are out.