"I Think it is Time we Learned about Fire Safety"

Today we began our project exploring Fire Fighters and Fire Safety.  Several children in my class have been asking for several weeks to explore this and entered our classrooms with big smiles because "Finally we are learning about Fire Fighters".  I like to do Fire Safety once a year to explore ways of keeping safe from fire and to help the preschoolers get a clearer sense of why we do fire drills.

Setting the Stage:
Children know that fire fighters put out fires.  But, why do they wear a mask, jackets, oxygen tank, and boots?  What is the ax for?  What is a hydrant?  What other equipment does a fire fighter need?  Are girls fire fighters too?  What happens during a forest fire or grass fire?  Do helicopters and airplanes  help put our fires?  These are some questions that we are beginning to ask and investigate!


Some children began to explore fire fighters through pretend and dramatic play.  I found these fire fighter boots at Walmart!  We explored how boots would keep a fire fighter's feet safe.

Fire helmets and jackets were an important part of their creative play.

Some children made their own fire hoses to play with.  They glued blue streamers inside a piece of cardstock.  We then rolled it up and stapled it!  They used it to put fires out all over our classroom.

I laminated some pictures of fire and put sticky tack on the back.  The children could move the pictures around the classroom and take them down when the fire was put out.

After discussion with the staff, we decided to not put out the toy fire hall for the children.  I don't mind the toy, but I wondered if it restricted the children from using their imaginations and creativity.  You don't have to "Grow Your Brain" and create a fire hall if it is already there.  The children did  noticed that a fire hall was missing, but an essential part of playing fire fighter.  We discussed some ways to solve this problem and decided that blocks would be the best way to create our own fire hall.  One child suggested that a fire hall needs a pole for the fire fighters to go down to their fire engines.  He and I discovered that a wrapping paper tube would be a perfect pole!  Our little fire fighters could fit inside!  Together we used our imagination and it was interesting to observe the symbolic representation and pretend play that occured!

This is the fire hall that was built in our block corner today.