Fire Safety Week Activities for Kindergarten-2nd Grade Kids

If you teach kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade, this post is for you! October is Fire Prevention Month, and you’ll probably want to work some fire safety week activities into your lesson plans. The idea of fire trucks, fire dogs, and brave firefighters is fascinating for little kids, so Fire Safety Week is something they really get into – which is great because it’s a great opportunity to teach important concepts that could actually save lives.

Did you know that President Calvin Coolidge was the one who proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week back in 1925? It was started as a way to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 – a terrible tragedy but also a turning point in how we think about fire safety. In 1911, the Fire Marshal’s Association established Fire Prevention Day, hoping to raise awareness. 

Today, National Fire Prevention Week happens each year during the week of October 9th. The National Fire Protection Association offers free resources like the NFPA Kids challenges and their Sparky club. If you haven’t checked those out, they’re packed with simple lessons, coloring pages, and videos that your early elementary students will love. The NFPA even has a youtube channel where you can listen to a fun song, learn about fire engines, or watch Sparky share fire safety tips.

Fire Safety Week Activities

Younger kids need simple lessons about what to do in the event of a fire, how to stay safe, and who their community helpers are. There are tons of fun activities, crafts, and read-alouds that teach the importance of fire safety in an age-appropriate way.

So let’s take a look at a few different activities and ideas you can use to plan a great fire safety unit in your classroom:

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Start With a Fire Safety Read Aloud

I love using read alouds in the classroom! Nothing gets kids into a theme like a picture book, and it lets you introduce a serious topic in a safe, non-scary way.

Here are a few favorite read alouds with fire safety concepts to get you started:

• No Dragons for Tea by Jean E. Pendziwol – a sweet tale that introduces fire safety rules through a dragon’s mishap
• Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill by Jamie Harper – a fun story that teaches young students what to expect and what to do during a fire drill
• Stop, Drop, and Roll by Charles Ghigna – a sing-along picture book that gets kids to practice this important procedure

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(These are affiliate links which means I may earn a very small commission when you purchase a book.)

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Practice Fire Safety: Fire Drills and Escape Plans

One of the best ways to teach fire safety is through role play. It helps kids practice what they would actually do in case of an emergency in a safe and low-stress way. Your students are probably already used to doing fire drills at school, but it’s so important that we teach them to have an escape plan at home, too.

You can do this in class, but should also follow up with a take-home activity for them to do with their families.

• Give each student a blank piece of paper with a simple house outline.
• Have them draw two safe places they could exit (a door and a window).
• Talk about smoke detectors and how they make a loud sound.
• Have them mark where the detectors are in their house.
• Remind them to choose a designated meeting spot (like a big tree) with their parents.

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This set of Fire Safety Week printables includes a Family Fire Safety Plan that you can send home with students – plus a whole lot more in-school activities, worksheets and a game to fill your lesson plans:

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Connect with Community Helpers

Little kids seem to be obsessed with fire trucks and fire engines, so use that to your advantage! Invite your local fire station or emergency services department to bring a truck to school if possible. Nothing makes the fire safety education more real than seeing a big red truck up close and meeting real fire fighters. Plus it can tie into your community helpers unit for social studies.

If an in-person visit isn’t possible, a virtual field trip can be fun too! Your local fire department many have its own video tour online (many of them do), but here are a few good ones that I like:

A short tour of a station in the New York City Fire Department: 

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A longer virtual visit: 

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Hands-On Fire Safety Week Activities

After your fire department visit or virtual tour, plan a few fire safety crafts or activities that add a hands-on element. Here are a few that are fairly low-prep and enjoyable for kids from early childhood up to about third grade.

Fire Safety STEM Challenges

• Fire Truck Challenge – Task: Design and build a “fire truck” that has at least one moving part (wheels that roll, ladder that lifts, door the opens, etc.) Materials: tape, scissors, craft sticks, and recyclables like small boxes and bottle caps
• Hose Challenge – Task: Design a “hose” that can transport water from one cup to another cup. Materials: drinking straws, masking or duct tape, and disposable cups. 

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Scavenger Hunt

Create a checklist of important fire safety items (exit signs, fire extinguishers, alarms). Take students on a walking tour around school to find them and count how many there are. This is a good time to explain what happens when a fire alarm is pulled and why they must never touch one unless there is a real fire.

Paper Plate Firefighter Helmets

With paper plates and a few markers, kids can make their own firefighter helmet. Cut out the center of the plate, 3/4 of the way around. Fold the cut circle up and glue on a construction paper badge. This is a fun activity to do at the beginning of the week to get students excited to learn about fire safety. Young kids like this one because they can pretend to be little firefighters.

PSA Video Project

If you have tablets kids can use, let pairs of students create and record their own public service announcement to teach the rest of the class one fire safety rule. They can use props (like their paper fire hat) or posters they created. Later, compile them into one longer video to watch together as a class. This activity is really fun for second and third graders.

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Fire Safety Week Activities Across Subject Areas

Your fire safety lesson doesn’t have to be its own stand-alone event. It’s pretty easy to work in different subject areas to create a cohesive unit. Here are some ideas for working it into other areas of the curriculum:

• Reading: Informational text about fire safety or the job of a firefighter will fit right in. Diagrams of a fire truck or a firefighter’s equipment can be used to teach text features.
• Writing: Use graphic organizers or a KWL chart to write about firefighters. Have young learners finish a sentence starter like “If there was a fire, I would…”
• Math Skills: Have students ask their parents how many smoke detectors they have at home. At school, create a simple bar graph to learn how to display the data collected by the class.
• Social Studies: Connect the role of firefighters to other community workers and how important they are to running a town or city.
• Science: Tie into heat energy and matter (smoke rises because gas particles are less denser than air).

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This “I Want to Be a Firefighter” comprehension booklet perfectly connects reading instruction to fire safety and community helpers. It’s great for first to second grade and includes comprehension questions.

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You know what I love most about Fire Safety Month? The kids don’t even realize they’re learning something so serious because they’re so wrapped up in the fun and novelty of it. But by the end of the week, they do remember a lot of important things, like:

• What to do in the event of a fire at school or at home
• How to create and follow an escape plan
• The importance of fire drills and smoke detectors
• The role of community helpers in keeping us safe

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I feel like the goal at this age is to just keep my fire safety week activities simple and hands-on. Read a couple of picture books, practice an escape plan, invite the fire department to visit if you can. Then sprinkle in a few crafts or songs to build engagement.

The kids will be so excited, and you’ll know they’re walking away with real safety skills. Honestly, it’s one of those themes that feels worthwhile every single year. It’s fun for the kids, easy to plan, and it just might make an actual difference in an emergency someday.

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🖨️Download this free note about fire safety to send home to your students’ families: