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Free Fire Safety Worksheets & Free Fire Safety Lesson Plans
I have gathered some useful links for teaching fire safety, a required subject for home educators in PA, as well as some suggestions for varying it a bit when it gets boring. Many of these sites have printable worksheets, which can be used to demonstrate fire safety instruction in your portfolio. Enjoy!
My Fire Safety Worksheet
Fire Safety Basics
Coloring and Activity Books!
USFA's coloring book has 9 pages of very broad messages about fire safety; it's best used with additional verbal instruction. Here's another USFA coloring book, this one is 4 pages, with simple messages in both English and Spanish on each page. USFA has an 8-page Sesame Street fire safety coloring book, available in English and in Spanish; it includes mazes and other interactive pages to help teach the lessons. Fairfax County has a 12-page coloring book with simple fire safety messages.
The town of Smyrma has a 10-page fire safety coloring book with basic fire safety messages that includes a firefighter badge and firefighter helmet to color and cut out.
USFA's 28-page activity book includes many interactive page for older elementary kids, plus a "Junior Fire Marshal Certificate" to award when the student has finished the workbook - nice for a portfolio! The same book is available in Spanish.
This USFA 24-page activity book includes mazes, fill-in-the-blank, word scramble, drawing, and other activities suitable for older elementary kids.
USFA offers a printable cut-and-build paper fire truck, which includes a maze and fire safety tips.
You might enjoy looking at these photos of vintage fire trucks from the American Heritage "Big Red" Fire Museum. More fire truck photos in a kid-friendly format are here. And check out this really great series of photos from a vintage fire truck parade.
Enchanted Learning has many activity pages combining fire fighting images with other academic subjects - anything from a firefighting addition workbook to putting firefighting words in alphabetical order. There is a small yearly fee to use this excellent site.
More from the US Fire Administration
The US Fire Administration (USFA) Kids Page Includes on-line games, lesson plans, etc. Here are a few items from this site that are of particular interest. All of them are in both English and Spanish (both languages on the same page):
~ Home Fire Safety Escape Plan Diagram - contains a space to draw a fire escape plan for their home.
~ Sparky the Fire Dog - online games for younger kids.
Options for Older Students
As kids get older, they want something a little more interesting than "Sparky the Fire Dog' coloring pages. It never hurts to review the basics, but if you're looking for something a little more in-depth, here are some resources.
Note also that many of the materials above for younger children are available in Spanish; older students studying Spanish may find them of interest.
Another option is to ask your child to research fire safety, or a particular fire safety topic, and then show what they have learned through writing a summary, making a pamphlet, writing a poem or a song, creating a poster or mini-poster notebook page, making a video, or some other creative endeavor.
US Fire Administration Pamphlets
The USFA has many printable pamphlets on various fire safety topics that are useful to use with older kids, and/or for teachers/parents to learn more themselves.
~ Escape from Fire: Once You're Out, Stay Out! - This pamphlet details the dangers of re-entering a burning structure. It explains the dangers of oxygen depletion, toxic gases, heat, explosion, structural collapse, and other deadly threats of structural fires. The detailed content makes it useful for older children and adults.
~ Juvenile Firesetters: What You Can Do - Covers why children set fires, and what you can do to prevent it. Suitable for older children and adults.
~ Protecting Your Family from Fire (English) - This pamphlet provides information to protect your family from fire. Topics include children, sleepwear, older adults, smoke detectors, escape plans and residential sprinklers. More detailed content makes it useful for older children and adults. The same pamphlet is available in Spanish.
~ Wildfire--Are You Prepared? - This pamphlet covers protecting your home from wildfire by creating and maintaining a safety zone, planning escape routes, and having a supply of necessities in the event of a wildfire.
~ Winter Fires--Safety Tips for the Home - Safety tips on winter heating sources - wood stoves, electric space heaters, kerosene heaters, fireplaces and furnaces.
Types of Fires and Fire Extinguishers
Different fires require different extinguishers, depending on what is burning. Stony Book U. has a brief intro to fire and extinguisher types. Safety Emporium has a more comprehensive page, covering types of extinguishers, how to use them, and how to maintain them.
Students who are studying chemistry or another lab science will benefit from a lesson in lab safety, including fire safety, working with hazardous materials, and so on.
The University of Maryland has a very comprehensive Guide to General Laboratory Safety Practices. While some is specific to UofM, most is more general and it provides a great start for creating your own home lab safety guidelines
Stony Book University has a more basic lab fire safety page. University of Oklahome has a brief lab fire safety page. Oklahoma State University has a nice lab fire safety page. The University of Texas at Austin has a page of "acceptable vs. unacceptable" lab safety photos, and tips to get your lab fire code compliant. Georgia State has a Laboratory Fire Safety Compliance Checklist
FEMA Emergency Management Courses
~ Emergency Management Institute Independent Study Program
Fire Safety in College Dorm Rooms
Students who are college bound may benefit from reviewing the specific issues relating to dorm fires, which can involve a lethal mix of cluttered living spaces and the careless use of fire sources, possibly compounded by drug or alcohol use.
The National Fire Protection Association has a very nice page about dorm fires, with lots of links to articles and statistics, and a list of major dorm fire incidents.
Here is another page of tips for dorm safety.