How do I prepare for a trip to the fire station with children 3 different ages?

Question

I am planning a tour of one of our local fire stations with my 2 sons and my nephew. I am trying to prepare some educational (and fun) materials for them to get them ready for the trip but I'm having a bit of trouble finding things that would be appropriate for the two older boys. I have plenty of materials and ideas for my 3 year old but my other son is 10 and my nephew is 8. I don't think they would be interested in fire truck color pages and the Elmo visits the Firehouse DVD I have for my younger son. Does anyone have ideas that I could use for them? I thought about having them design their own fire safety poster as an art project and maybe giving them each a camera to take their own pictures but that's as far as I have gotten. Thanks!!!

Answer 1

How about teaching a little practical knowledge about fire safety, household fire drills, or first aid while you prepare?  The older boys can play games with things like gauze pads, antibiotic cream, etc...like put a bunch of items in a box, let them look at everything for 1 minute, and see how many they can remember.  The can learn how to check the smoke alarms in your house, or let them put together a first aid kit (check your dollar store for affordable items) and learn proper procedure for cleaning a scrape, removing a splinter, or calling 911.  They'll never regret learning how, and firefighters are first responders, so they need to know this stuff too!

Answer 2

I would grab some Cub Scout books from the library - Bears and Webelos ought to do it.  Both have some great fire safety and community helper sections in them - and I know the Bear book (and possibly Webelo, I don't remember) has a requirement for a trip to the fire station.  My son really enjoyed these activities when he was there!

Answer 3

Have you asked the 8 and 10 year old how they would like to prepare for the field trip?  Ask them to give you a few suggestions of their own and pick one that you feel comfortable accomodating.

If that doesnt work try activities that match their passions.  Is one an avid writer?  Ask him to write a story that relates to this field trip.  Does one like arts and crafts?  He could create a model of a fire truck or station.  History?  They could do online research into how the fire dept. first started in your area.  Music:  they could write a song to perform for the firefighters.  Cooking:  have them create their very own firehouse meal and serve it to the firefighters.  The possibilities are endless.   Get creative and have fun with it!

Answer 4

Design a fire safety poster

Talk about or devise a plan of what they'd do if the house caught on fire. What exit would they take? Where would they go once outside? Do they waste time taking things with them? Do they try to put the fire out themselves? How do they make sure everyone knows about the fire? What do they do to avoid smoke? What if their clothes catch on fire? What number do they call once they're out of the house and at a neighbor's phone?

After talking about what you'd do, have a fire drill some time that day. Tell them you're going to have one but don't say when, or maybe put one of them in charge of deciding when to yell fire and get everyone going. Be sure to tell them that this is a one time only DRILL, and that it's not okay to say there's an emergency when their really isn't.

Talk about the different things fire fighters do besides just spraying water.

Find pictures of firemen's equipment online and make a set of cards with the pictures. Make another set with the names of the equipment and what they do aand have the kids match them up. (Helmet, gloves, oxygen mask, axe, etc)

Talk about working under pressure as this is something firemen do every day. Talk about times when the average person has to work under pressure and things you can do to get the job done without panicing or making too many mistakes. Play a game to practice this. One idea would be to get a bunch of heavy baggy clothes like big coats, overalls, hats, gloves, scarves,boots, etc and put them in a pile. Ring a bell like a fire alarm and have the kids race to put all the clothes in their pile on, run to a designated point, complete a simple task like stacking blocks or filling a water bottle or something, then run back and take the heavy clothes off again. Afterwards you can talk about how fire fighters have to hurry up and put on all their equipment when the alarm sounds and get on the truck. Talk about how it's difficult to do some things when wearing all that stuff but fire fighters are trained to do it so they can get the job done safely and quickly.

Talk about the science behind fire and fire fighting. Talk about what's inside of fire extinguishers that makes that foamy stuff come out (CO2), and make some of your own by mixng baking soda and vinegar. Talk about what's actually happening when something is burning and why some things burn differently than others and some things are more dangerous when burning. Talk about things that are okay to burn like fire wood or sparklers or candles.

Have a little history lesson and learn about when fire departments were officially first established. Learn about why certain things are the waya they are today (the truck being red, the dalmation being associated with fire fighters, poles being used instead of stairs in fire stations with more than one floor, etc).

Go to the library and find some other books and videos about fire fighters and fire stations that are more appealing to older students. There's a lot you can do.

Answer 5

How about preparing a scavenger hunt questionnaire a head of time so the can look for the answers while on the field trip?  I think this would be fun for that age.