👩🚒 Fire Safety Activities for Parents and Children
Dear Parents,
Help your children learn about firefighters and fire safety through these fun, educational activities. Each one encourages creativity while teaching important safety lessons.
Fire Drill
Make a plan for getting out of your home in case of a fire and establish a safe meeting place outside. Practice this plan regularly with your child.
At the end of your drill, have your child show how they would get help by pretending to run to a neighbor’s house and dialing 9-1-1.
Firefighter Hats
Use plain newsprint or newspaper to make a folded paper hat for each child. Secure all loose edges with tape. Let them color their hats red with crayons or markers, then fold back one corner and staple it in place. Attach a yellow construction-paper badge with a number of the child’s choice.
Variation: Trim a large piece of red construction paper into an oval to create a head-sized firefighter finger-puppet hat.
Firefighter Finger Puppets
Cut small ovals (about 2 inches long) from white construction paper. Let children color both sides red, cut out a finger hole, and fold along the solid line. Add a number to the hat with a black marker. Draw a face on the child’s finger and place the firefighter hat on top. Encourage storytelling or singing with their new puppet characters!
Fire Prevention Badges
Cut badge shapes from white index cards. Let children decorate their badges and write one of these sayings:
- “(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
Provide a small house shape and a fire-truck shape cut from construction paper. Have the child glue these to a foam food tray, then draw smoke and flames. Create a hose from a pipe cleaner and attach it to the fire truck with tape — now they can “put out” the fire!
Milk Carton Fire Engine
- Open the container top.
- Cut the top on three sides and separate it.
- Cut halfway down into the container.
- Fold and tape or glue down as shown.
- Cover the carton with paper and decorate it like a fire truck.
Cardboard Carton Fire Engine
Use a rectangular cardboard carton and cut out the bottom. Open the two top flaps and cut square “ladder” holes in them. Paint the ladders white and the body red. Add yellow paper plates for headlights, black ones for wheels, and attach a garden hose to the back. Children can climb inside and pretend to drive to a fire!
Stop, Drop, and Roll
Reinforce the Stop, Drop, and Roll method during fire-drill practice. Clear a safe area, and have children pretend to walk or run. When you give the signal, they should stop, drop to the ground, and roll over and over until the “flames” are out. This fun activity helps build muscle memory for real-life safety.
Learning about fire safety through play helps children remember what to do in an emergency — and builds lifelong awareness.