Safety Specialist is a required award for Busy Bees Investiture Achievement. And I understand why! This fantastic award goes over basic safety for a whole range of situations from home safety to house fires to what to do in a natural disaster.
The drills were a review for the kids in my class this year, and I love that I had the opportunity to explain the why behind the different kinds of drills they do in school. Some of the drills seem super silly until you understand how the procedures are helpful. “Why is my teacher at school making me sit in the hallway for a tornado drill? What a dumb drill!” Well, actually, the school is trying to keep you safe from flying glass, and the hallway has the least amount of glass in the school. When kids understand the “why,” they are usually much more likely to cooperate.
This award also encourages parents to practice a fire drill at home with their kids. Hopefully our Adventurers will never need the knowledge they’ve gained in this award, but if they do, I’m grateful we had the opportunity to prepare them.
Safety Video
Fulfills Requirement # 1
I introduced our topic of fire safety with a short youtube video. This quick video covered the basics, and then we had a discussion about how we get out of a burning building: checking doorknobs for heat, staying low if there is smoke, and the dangers of smoke inhalation.
Fire Drill
Fulfills Requirement # 3c
Before beginning our fire drill, we discussed possible exits from our classroom and the pros and cons of each. There are two official meeting places outside of the church (scenario-dependent), and I discussed both with the kids and their parents. As I wasn’t allowed to set off the church’s fire alarm (reasonable, I guess), I played this youtube video on my phone with the volume all the way up. We did our drill with Eager Beavers and Pathfinder Friends. It’s fun when we are all focused on the same topic in the same week!
Fire Safety Stations
Fulfills Requirement # 7
The Fire Safety Stations are from the Eager Beaver and Busy Bee Leader’s Guides. We combined Busy Bees and Eager Beavers for this activity as the Fire Safety Award needs to go over the same topics. Our combined class has eight adventurers and we divided them into three groups to go through the stations. The first and third stations could be done with larger groups, but I’d recommend small groups or more “9-1-1 Operators” for the second station. The printable station signs are at the end of this post.
Stop. Drop. Roll.
What do you do if your clothes catch on fire? (I imagine that every adult has this ingrained deeply from their childhood!) Stop! (Seriously, stop running around in a panic. That just spreads the fire.) Drop! Lay on the ground and cover your face with your hands. Roll! Roll over a few times. This smothers the fire.
9-1-1: Is This An Emergency?
Who do we call in an emergency? What happens when you call? When is it appropriate to call? We cover all of this in our little game.
Kids came to this station in their group. One kid plays the game while the others listen and then the next kid takes their turn. This is the station that takes the most time. (Fortunately, the kids in the other stations were happy to run around a bit in the foyer and were pretty patient.)
The adventurer chooses a scenario card and tells if this situation is worthy of a call to 911. If it isn’t, they choose another card. When they get an emergency card, they dial 911 on their paper phone (in the printable pack below). The adult running the station will pretend to be a 9-1-1 operator. The adventurer will answer the operator’s questions. I asked each adventurer their address as part of their call. (Their parents were encouraged to prompt them.) The kids needed reminders that nodding is not helpful during a phone call!
If you live in a country with a different emergency number, and you’d like a printable that better fits your needs, leave a comment below with the name of your country, your emergency number, and your preferred paper size (A4 or 8.5×11). I’d love to make a version just for your country!
Get Out and Stay Out – Safely
The main purpose of this activity to practice getting out in a smokey situation. Two adults held a sheet 18 inches (46 cm) above the ground and the kids had to crawl under it to safety. This is also a great time to remind them that they should never return to a burning building.
Emergency and Disaster Drills
Fulfills Requirement # 4
This activity is very location-specific! The requirements suggest we discuss and practice drills for:
- Hurricane
- Tornado
- Earthquake
- Flood
- Volcano
- Lightning and thunder
Hurricanes are not remotely an issue in my area, so we skipped hurricanes. I live in the Ring of Fire, so we needed to discuss earthquakes and volcanoes. Preparation is so important for earthquakes, and I used this opportunity to stress the importance of bolting bookcases and tall furniture to the walls. The other disasters are usually minor concerns in my area, but we did quickly cover each of them and practiced drills when appropriate. As forest fires are our biggest concern here – both actual fire concerns for some families and extreme smoke issues for all of us, I added forest fires to my list of disasters to discuss.
Craft: Safety Poster
Fulfills Requirement # 6
The Busy Bees made mini-posters. They each had one piece of cardstock and chose their safety topic. (House fires. I always see posters of house fires.)
At Home: Safety Detective
Fulfills Requirements # 2, 3a, 5
AdventSource has a great printable to send home with your Safety Detectives! In addition to a list of things the Busy Bees should be looking for as safety detectives in their homes, the checklist includes an evacuation plan and home fire drill. At the following meeting, we discussed what they found and how their fire drills went.
Printables
What is you favorite activity when you teach Safety Specialist? Tell us about it in the comments.