Stay Safe - A Safety Education Guide to Household Chemical Products for Children 5 to 9 years of age

C. … To STAY SAFE

Activities for your program

In this section there are activities you can use to help children:

• recognize hazard symbols
• learn what the hazard symbols mean
• assess the chemical hazard
• take the safe action
• practise … STOP! LOOK! STAY SAFE!

Each activity is set up the same way:

• Name of the activity and the reference page of where it can be found in the guide
• Purpose of the activity
• Learning Outcomes
• Preparation required
• How to Use the activity
• Variations, if applicable
• Template(s)

Note: A full set of copy-ready templates can be found in Appendix A.

To select the most appropriate activities for your class or group, first find out what each child knows about household chemical products. There are a number of ways you can accomplish this both formally and informally. For example:

• Show pictures of different hazard symbols. Ask children what they think the symbol means and where they might find it.
• Ask children to name products at home that only grown-ups or parents may use. How do they know which products are not safe?
• Make up a list of home safety rules by asking the children to tell you some of the safety rules they have at home.
• Ask children what they think an emergency is. What would they do if there was an emergency at home?

Once you've completed your assessment, review the chart on pages 14-16. It provides some key information to help you decide which STAY SAFE activities are suitable for your group. The activity chart includes:

• The purpose of the activity - whether the activity reinforces recognition of the hazard symbols, encourages assessment of the situation and environment, practises a STAY SAFE action or all three!
• The recommended grade level for each activity. In some cases there may be an activity sheet for each grade level (e.g. matching game).
• A list of the materials required for each activity.
• A list of the materials provided in this program guide for each activity.

When should you use these activities?

Children may be exposed to household chemical products at any time, so the sooner they learn how to STOP, LOOK and STAY SAFE, the sooner an injury may be prevented. Consider a seasonal approach since many hazardous chemical products are used more frequently in one season than another. This offers you the flexibility of using the following learning activities at multiple times throughout the year.

Here are some suggestions for incorporating STAY SAFE activities into your existing curriculum:

• Make this program part of a theme on home safety. Do one activity with the children each day for a week. Begin with recognition activities and finish with action activities so that learning to STAY SAFE is reinforced.
• Include STAY SAFE program activities in your seasonal themes. Focus on home and seasonal hazards in the fall and winter when children are indoors (e.g. cleaners, polishes, gas line antifreeze). In spring and summer, highlight hazardous chemical products children may find outside or in garages (e.g. windshield washer fluid, pool chemicals, paints, outdoor lantern fuel, antifreeze).
• Take the opportunity to reinforce key messages about hazard symbols if the right moment comes up during another activity (e.g. when you have used a cleaning product for a spill). Encourage the children to remind you what each hazard symbol means.
• Include the hazard symbols and their names in activities you do for other themes, like matching games or word searches.
• Coordinate your activities with other teachers or group leaders. Designate a week for the entire school (or all groups) to learn about hazardous household products.
• This theme is very adaptable to a "buddy" program. Have older children help teach younger children about hazard symbols and the STOP, LOOK, STAY SAFE messages. They can put on a puppet play, making up a story using RADAR as the main character, or play matching games with younger children.
• Have the children include key safety information or emergency numbers in their daily agendas or workbooks. Ask parents to initial the information.

How to reinforce the STAY SAFE messages at home

Since so many hazardous chemical product injuries take place in the home, it's important to encourage parents to adopt the STAY SAFE approach. Please include in your program the material and activities designed to be taken home by the children. STAY SAFE includes the following take-home resources:

• A grade specific letter and fact sheet(s) for parents.
• Take-home activities. Encourage the children to bring back some of the finished take-home activities to receive a STAY SAFE certificate.
• Safety facts and tips. You can:
  
  
  • include a fact or tip in each edition of your program newsletter
  • place a safety tip of the month in your calendar of activities

Other ways to involve parents include:

• ask parents to contribute a picture of a container with a hazard symbol (from advertisements) for your activity collection.
• encourage parents to place the hazard symbols on the fridge and review them with their children on a regular basis, especially when new products are brought into the home.
• request that parents complete the Emergency Directory with their children and post it near the telephone.
• suggest parents send information around the community as part of the Block Parent program.
• encourage parents to set up safety displays at libraries, community centres or other public locations.

A final note before you start:

While there are lots of ideas and activities in this guide, we encourage you to use your own ideas and experiences, and those of the children, as you present the STAY SAFE information and key messages.