Preschool: Fire Safety

With all of the wildfires going on in California right now, Fire Prevention week and Fire Safety have really been on my mind a lot. This week in addition to all of our preschool activities, we talked a lot about how to stay safe if there were ever a fire in our house.

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Here were our plans for our Fire Safety theme:

And here are the details for each activity:

Concepts of Print:

This week we focused on the title, author, and illustrator and where you can find them in a book. Our first read aloud was Firefighters A to Z by Chris L. Demarest. Before reading, I gave Madelynn sticky notes to label the title, author, and illustrator. She was thrown a little bit by the fact that the author and illustrator were the same person this time, but that made a great teaching point!

No Dragons for Tea Retelling:

Our next read aloud was No Dragons for Tea by Jean Pendziwol. After reading, I showed Madelynn a 3 part flip book with the words beginning, middle, and end on them. Then I told her I was going to read 3 parts of the story and she had to try to put them in order.  She then glued then under each flap and illustrated the part of the story to go with each.

Firefighter Vocabulary:

Then we read People Who Help Us: Firefighters by Amanda Askew. This book has a lot of new vocabulary, so after reading we used vocabulary cards to help draw and make our own firefighter vocabulary book.

 Firefighter Bubble Map:

To wrap up our firefighter learning we read Fred the Firefighter by Felicity Brooks. After reading I asked Madelynn to fill in a bubble map with things she learned about fire fighters. Madelynn came up with a few ideas on her own (they drive fire trucks, put out fires, climb ladders). Then we flipped through pictures from this week’s books to add more and finish our bubble map.

Tracking Print:

Our last book was the letter E (for Emergency) book from Abby’s Alphabet Book Series. Madelynn identified the picture then pointed to each word as she read.

Fire Safety Read and Color:

This week we focused on the letter E so we started with this color by code activity. Madelynn identified each letter then followed the directions to make each spot the correct color.

E Sound Stamping:

Next, for more letter practice we used our dot stampers. We started out stamping inside the letter to make an E. Then Madelynn had to find the upper and lowercase e’s in the alarm, stamp them and make the e sound each time.

Fire Safety Syllable Sort:

This week I introduced the concept of syllables for the first time to Madelynn.  First we practiced clapping the syllables in each word.  She did surprisingly well at this for most words, so then I showed her how to put one finger up while saying each syllable instead of clapping. Afterwards she could look at her fingers to see how many syllables that word had.  So many skills working together for this sort, so I definitely had to give lots of help along the way.

Fire Truck Name Craft:

This week for our name craft, Madelynn made her own fire truck and I have to say it is absolutely my favorite name craft so far! First she cut and glued the pieces together to make a truck.  Then she cut apart the letter tiles, and glued them in the correct order to complete the ladder. Way too cute!

Fire Safety Journal Writing:

For our journal this week Madelynn chose to draw and label a fire engine.  I helped her sound out the word slowly and asked her to listen for any letter sounds she knew. She wrote “F E N.” I’m loving watching her beginning writing progress 🙂

Fire Safety Salt Tray:

Our first math activity this week was a fire themed sand tray.  I filled the tray with orange dyed salt (I poured salt into a bag with a few drops of food coloring then shook it up to distribute the dye evenly) and a few red, orange, and yellow paper shreds. Then Madelynn used small fire cards as a model to write numbers in the salt with her finger.

Fire Safety Positional Word Book:

Our new math skill for the week is positional words. I put together this book with opposites on each page and fire themed pictures for sorting.  I laminated and added velcro to all of the pieces so they could be used over and over again.  Then Madelynn practiced identifying left/right, in front/behind, over under, and on/off.

Where is the Firefighter?

For this positional word game we started out by using Magna Tiles to build a fire station.  (You could also use a toy fire engine or other toy house you have instead.)  Then Madelynn rolled a die with positional words on it to find out where to put the firefighter.  We took turns practicing all of the different positions and problem solving how to put the firefighter inside the station (we needed to add a door) and below the fire station (Madelynn decided to put him under the table.)

Climb the Ladder:

Our next fire themed game was a fun way to practice counting and number sense.  To prep the game, I first made a building our of Magna Tiles on our oil drip pan, taped a ladder on the side then added magnet firemen and kitties.  To play, we took turns rolling the die and climbing that many rungs on the ladder each time.  The first one to get to the top, rescue the kitty and climb back down was the winner.

Where is the Fire Dog?

For our last positional word practice activity, I created this simple printable book with cut out pieces.  On each page I used a different positional word (above, below, behind, next to, between, etc.) and Madelynn cut and glued the fire dogs in the correct spot on each page.

Fire Safety Sensory Bin:

In this bin: shredded paper (red, orange, and yellow), Magna Tiles, fire engines, fire fighters, mini puzzle letters

In this bin, Madelynn built a fire station and houses, added fire, then used the fire engine and firefighter to pretend to put out the fires. She pulled apart the puzzle pieces and put them back together to spell FIRE.

Tissue Paper Fire Art:

To prepare this craft, I cut out a fire shape from orange paper and small tissue paper squares in red, orange and yellow. First Madelynn glued the fire shape onto a black sheet of cardstock. Then she used the tissue paper squares to create 3 dimensional fire. I love the way she crumpled the tissue to create texture in the fire.

Hot and Cold Sort:

After talking about how to stay safe in a fire, we talked about how fires can start and the importance of not touching or playing with items that are hot. Madelynn cut apart pictures and sorted them into hot and cold groups.

Drip Art Fire:

This fun process art activity was a great way to practice fine motor skills and turned out really beautiful.  I prepped a few coffee filters by cutting them into fire shapes, then flattening them out.  Madelynn used pipettes to drop liquid watercolors in red, orange, and yellow onto them.  Afterwards the coffee filters were soaked but I wanted to let them dry so we could hang them in our windows, so we completed this activity on our clear tray then I allowed them to dry overnight without moving them.

Fire Fighting Sensory Bin:

In this bin: laminated pictures, tempera paint, water, plastic spray bottles, fine motor tools

Ahead of time I painted the laminated pictures with red, orange, and yellow tempera paint to create fire and allowed it to dry.  I taped the pictures to the inside of the bin, then filled spray bottles with water. Madelynn used the spray bottles and fine motor tools to “fight the fires” and spray the paint away.

Want all of this week’s all about me activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Fire Safety Plans & Printables On TpT: Fire Safety Plans & Printables

Want all of this week’s printables and plans?  You can grab them here:

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Preschool Bundle On TpT here: Preschool Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 45+ themes on the Preschool Curriculum Main Page.