Last week was Safety Week here at the Museum! Once a year we spend nine action-packed days reviewing our safety procedures. Because safety is a top priority we spend a lot of time talking not only about the routine things like reuniting families, but also about the more serious scenarios that we hope will never happen.

Spot the Hazard: Oh, no! Our World has been filled with safety hazards! How many hazards can you spot in two minutes? Part of the Visitor Assistants' job is to constantly be monitoring for safety issues while they are in the galleries. This could be anything from a water spill, to an unlocked door, to a broken exhibit.

Evacuation Drill: The alarm has sounded and the staff must quickly and calmly evacuate our paper visitors from the building. Will everyone make it out safely? Although we rarely have to evacuate the building, it is something we take very seriously. Every evacuation drill is timed and evaluated.

First Aid: Not only do we practice first aid procedures (all floor staff are certified in first aid), we practice safety procedures for dealing with blood and other bodily fluids. Can you take off your safety gloves without contaminating your skin? We smear ketchup on our gloves to find out.

Box Office Safety: The entrance to the Museum is a key spot for safety awareness -- that is why the security guards are posted there. We always need to be aware o who is coming in and out of our building. Staying aware is also the number one way to protect our building and our visitors from acts of theft.

Although we hope that most of these scenarios will never happen, it is important for everyone to practice their safety procedures. What do you do to practice safety with your kids?

-Jessica Turgeon
Director of Visitors Services and Organizational Development

Minnesota Children's Museum's best stories come from the daily interactions with visitors. "Kids say the darnedest things," as the old chestnut goes. Jessica Turgeon, the director of organizational development and visitor services (and holder of the longest title at the Museum) has worked for the Museum for almost 12 years, starting first as a cashier. She has heard many cute-kid stories in all those days in a purple vest.

With the addition of her "Tales from the Floor" contributions to the Smart Play blog, she will share some of the best "heard-at-the-Museum"s and the inner workings behind the purple vests of the Minnesota Children's Museum visitor assistants. These stories will provide insight into how the staff members and volunteers keep visitors' experiences educational, safe and fun.

Tales from the Floor: Lost Children
Safety is our number one priority at the Museum. One of the most common safety concerns we encounter is reuniting lost children with their adults (or reuniting lost adults with their children!). While this can be a very scary situation for them, it is something we handle literally every single day.

When we are reuniting families, we ask the child (or adult) for a description to help us look for the person who is lost, and then share those descriptions with the staff over our two-way radios. Here are some of our favorite radio calls:
• I am with Caleb and we are looking for his mom. Her name is “mommy” and she looks like an angel.
• I am with Sam, we are looking for his dad. His name is Mike and he has a big head.
• Cancel that search for Keisha’s mom -- mom didn’t come with to the museum today. We are now looking for Keisha’s dad...
• I didn’t find the girl in the pink leopard shirt, but I did find a pink leopard shirt in the Atrium. We are now looking for a three-year-old girl with brown hair and no shirt.

Visiting the Museum? Here are some tips for a safe visit:
• Talk to your child about what to do if they get lost -- anyone in a purple vest can help them
• If your child is old enough, make sure they know your first and last name -- not just “mom” or “dad”
• If you lose your child during your visit, stay calm and find a visitor assistant in a purple vest right away

-Jessica Turgeon, director of organizational development and visitor services

This month, the state of Minnesota released a new booster seat law for parents. Are you aware of the updates? We've provided a brief overview here, but the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) has materials available for parents and caregivers to view and download at www.buckleupkids.state.mn.us — including a flier explaining the law, frequently asked questions and more.

Minnesota children under age 8 and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches tall must be in a child safety seat or booster seat, effective July 1. Under the booster law, children cannot use a seat belt alone until they are age 8 or 4 feet 9 inches tall — whichever comes first. To ensure child safety, DPS recommends parents keep children in a booster based on their height, rather than their age.

In Minnesota, three out of every four child restraints are used incorrectly — meaning children are riding in the wrong restraint or the restraint is not properly secured. DPS reports the following as the most common child passenger safety mistakes:

-Turning a child from a rear-facing restraint to a forward-facing restraint too soon.
-Restraint is not secured tight enough — it should not shift more than one inch side-to-side or out from the seat.
-Harness on the child is not tight enough — if you can pinch harness material, it’s too loose.
-Retainer clip is up too high or too low — should be at the child’s armpit level.
-The child is in the wrong restraint — don’t rush your child into a seat belt.

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.