Learning about safety in the home and in the neighborhood is an important part of a young child’s life. Everyday they come across situations that require them to choose a course of action. Knowing how to be safe is a great way to teach young children about being responsible for themselves and helping others to be safe too.

Watch Clifford™ be responsible and safe
Together, watch some episodes of Clifford The Big Red Dog on PBS KIDS and talk about situations in which Clifford and his friends learn how to be safe and responsible. Let children role play or draw “safe scenes” from Clifford The Big Red Dog. They can include themselves being safe in their drawing of the scene as well.

Take your child on a safety walk
Walk around the house with children and count how many safety items they can find. (first aid kit, fire extinguisher, etc.) On the reverse side, have the children point out all the unsafe items (open cupboard doors where someone could bump their heads, toys on the floor where they could trip ,etc.)

Hot and Cold
Have your toddler or preschooler help you put red dots on hot things, and blue dots on cold things. You will be surprised because they probably already understand the concept that red represents hot and blue represents cold!

Play the classic game Red Light, Green Light
Talk with your child about the meaning of the colors on a stoplight. With a small group of children, let one child be Clifford and call out “red light or “green light” to the other children. Have the children run around until Clifford calls out, "red light" and then the children have to stop moving until they hear "green light."

Suggested book:
Clifford The Firehouse Dog by Norman Bridwell
Act out the stop, drop, and roll procedures and review the Fire Safety Rules on the last page.