The kids had a wonderful time during group time today. We learned all about fire safety!

We read “Going to the Firehouse” by Mercer Mayer. Story time fosters listening skills and appropriate classroom behaviour (e.g. raising one’s hand rather than calling out).

We learned about the importance of firefighters in the community and talked about what to do when we see a fire. Children also had a chance to identify the parts of a fire station and a fire truck.

Then, we did a word associations exercise with themed words such as “fire”, “hose”, and “water”. Teaching word associations helps with vocabulary acquisition and the understanding of word relationships.

The kids had fun doing a firefighter craft afterwards. Doing crafts helps with cognitive development (thinking), social development (relating), and sensory-motor development (coordinating). Decision making, cooperation, and eye-hand coordination, for example, are all inherent in craft activities.

To wrap up today’s group time, the children partook in some fun games. One of them was “Stop, Drop, and Roll!” The children were spread out in a large space at an arm’s distance apart. The teacher gave them travelling movement instructions (e.g. skip, walk). When the children heard “Fire!”, however, they were expected to stop, drop, and roll. The game reinforced what we had learned about fire safety earlier and fostered the development of locomotive skills.

A good time was had by all!