Teaching Fire Safety and Fire Prevention Education at Home with Sparky the Fire Dog

This post “Teaching Fire Safety and Fire Prevention Education at Home with Sparky the Fire Dog” is sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association and Sparky the Fire Dog®.

With the kids not in school right now and field trips on hold indefinitely, they aren’t getting their usual trips to the fire department and our fire safety village. This is typically the place our children get extra reinforcement of their fire safety. And sometimes, they even come home and remind us of fire safety we may have been a little lackadaisical about. Thankfully, there are great resources for teaching fire prevention education at home with the National Fire Protection Association. 

The National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA)

Fire safety and fire prevention is something that needs to be taken very seriously. So many fires and injuries from fires are preventable and education is the first step. The National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) is an organization designed to be the leading information and knowledge resource on fire, electrical, and related hazards for both adults and kids.

Children are little sponges and can learn so much, but it’s important to make things relatable and fun for them so they can absorb as much of the information as possible. So, NFPA has created a part of their education program just for kids!

NFPA Kids

NFPA Kids hosts the website, Sparky.org, as a resource for parents and kids to better understand ways in which to practice fire safety! 

They also host SparkySchoolhouse.org which is designed for educators but the content is available to anyone as well.

On both of these sites, the content is geared toward Pre-K, and K-5, although much of the material is best suited for younger children (K-2).

Sparky the Fire Dog®

I pulled my girls (ages 13, 11, 8, and 6) over to my computer so we could chat about fire safety and prevention using Sparky.com. The girls eyes all lit up at the sight of Sparky the Fire Dog®. All four of them were very familiar with him and started telling me all about Sparky the Fire Dog® and what they had learned about him over the years. It’s nice to see that both Sparky.org and SparkySchoolhouse.org teach kids about fire safety with the help of NFPA’s favorite mascot, Sparky the Fire Dog® so there is an overlap between learning at home and learning at school.

The safety lessons are delivered in a fun and engaging way in kid-approved activities like games and apps, videos and activities, both during Fire Prevention Week and throughout the entire year.

NFPA has provided new content on Sparky Schoolhouse this year including:

• Annie Makes a Plan eBook
• How Much Do You Know about Fire Safety eBook
• Fire Safety At Home kit
• I Spy Fire Safety in the Kitchen video

Why emphasize the importance of fire prevention education?

I’ve previously mentioned, a few years ago our neighbor’s house caught fire. The house directly behind ours. It was quite eye-opening for so many of our neighbors. (I should mention nobody was home, so nobody was hurt).

This made us realize just how important it was for us to continue fire prevention education at home and build on what our children had learned at school. We made sure to discuss safe ways to exit the house and our meeting place outside the house should there be a fire. It also prompted me to buy a new fire extinguisher and to make sure we all know where it is and how to use it. 

To keep reinforcing these things (kids need repetition), it’s nice that we have access to sites like Sparky.com. The quality resources that were carefully planned with usability considered and also a cool factor of both computer-based and apps are just what kids need. I appreciate that we can use these resources at home! It’s also a tool educators can use in their classrooms making it so much easier to keep talking about fire prevention safety.

Sparky games we liked

B is drawn to Sparky’s Fun House where she has to find the way out of a house and to the established meeting place she had set at the beginning of the game. 

 
Turns out, she had to teach me how to play it, too. How are they so good at figuring out these games immediately? 

She was like “mommy, you use the mouse, find the way to the exit and then get to the meeting place!” And maybe there was a little exasperation in her voice. It was nice to have a game that encouraged us to discuss again how to exit our house safely and where we should meet if needed. 

Once this game is mastered, she earns other fun games. They had her doing math and squirting the answer with a fire hose, bouncing balls on trampolines and more.

The games quickly drew a crowd from B’s other siblings as well! They all wanted a turn at finding the exit and playing fire safety games. 

For Fire Prevention Week (and year round), I recommend checking out both websites and playing the games and apps on both websites! Take advantage of the resources they have prepared and use them during your distance learning or to enhance your face-to-face learning. 

Want more fire safety? Check this out!

7 Fire Escape Plan Tips for Fire Prevention Week