Teaching children about fire safety

Each year, over 400 children under the age of 11 are injured and four killed in accidental fires in homes in England . While this is devastating, it’s also a reminder that fire safety starts with education and those figures could actually be drastically reduced. CheckFire is a family-run business and as we continue to tackle the challenges of COVID-19 and government guidelines, we realise it brings an opportunity to raise awareness of fire safety with children.

We’ve created a guide to help you teach your children about fire safety. And during the current situation, when we’re spending all our time at home playing, schooling, baking and doing all kinds of activities, we hope it will resonate with you and your children and that you’ll take a lot from it.

Fire safety – the basics

As parents, we’ll do anything to keep our children safe – and a big part of that is teaching them the skills to keep themselves safe. When it comes to learning about fire safety, for little ones aged five and under, it’s better to teach the basics – what they should and shouldn’t do – so they have a simple but clear understanding. For older children, explaining further detail and the ‘whys’ is a good idea. We understand it can be daunting, thinking about how you can do this without scaring them or knocking their confidence – and that’s where we want to help.

Teach them how to prevent a fire – they should know:

• Never to play with matches, lighters, electrical appliances or sockets.
• Don’t play with candles.
• Grown-ups – always keep candles way out of reach of children and items that could set alight but make sure little ones know what candles are and how they can become dangerous.
• To tell an adult if they see matches or lighters lying around.
• To be extra careful near open fires and heaters.
• Never to switch on or play with the cooker and its buttons.
• Not to touch saucepans or anything on the top of the cooker.

Make learning about fire safety engaging

Once they know the basics, learning fire safety doesn’t need to be scary or all doom and gloom. Whether you’re teaching your toddler, preschooler or an older child, there are lots of fun activities you can enjoy with them and make the process exciting while engraining the knowledge in their sponge-like brains.

Read with them and make story time fun.

Children, whatever their age, love reading stories – making this a great opportunity for some subtle fire safety learning. Look towards books like: No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) by Jean E Pendziwol and Topsy and Tim: Meet the Firefighters by Jean and Gareth Adamson.

Stop! Drop! Roll!

Teach them the simple ‘Stop, drop and roll’ fire safety technique for when clothes catch fire and practice with them. To really illustrate the urgency needed to perform this, set the kids a challenge of who can do it the quickest. While they’re enjoying seeing who can win, they’re learning and practicing these vital actions so they can be recalled to memory in the event of a real fire.

Rehearse scenarios with them.

Once your children know the basics of fire safety, quiz them about what they’ve learned in a way that will engage them. Think up simple scenarios ask them ‘what if’-type questions – for example: ‘what would you do if you saw someone playing with matches?’ or ‘ how would you leave the house if the fire alarm sounded’.

Print out downloadable activity sheets.

In these times of mass quarantine, now more so than ever, activity sheets you’ll find online will be a winner in homeschooling your children. You’ll find ones focusing on fire safety in the home, the right and wrong behaviours and home evacuation plans, for example. Take a look our and spend time explaining all about fire safety to your child.

Above all else, teaching children about fire safety means leading by example. Let them see your sensible behaviour regularly – while cooking, using electrical appliances etc. Do your best to teach them the basics so they know which actions are required and can think for themselves should a fire ever take hold.