Here are some firefighter stories and activities to enjoy with your preschooler 🙂
October is fire safety month. This is a great time to talk to your child about the dangers of hot stoves, matches, lighters, fire pits, and what to do if there is a fire. Practice STOP, DROP, and ROLL and make sure to check your home’s smoke alarms to ensure that they are working properly. Check out your library for book ideas on teaching your child about fire safety.
Firefighter Stories
Two of my son’s favorite firefighter stories are Frank Dormer’s Firefighter Duckies and Norman Bridwell’s Clifford the Firehouse Dog.
Firefighter Duckies is absolutely hilarious!!! You and your child will laugh-out-loud all through this book as the poor firefighter duckies rescue whales in trees and put out a burning chef’s hat. Every disaster is super silly. Nevertheless, through it all, “they are brave, they are strong, they are….firefighter duckies!” If you think you are up to laughing this much, then check out Firefighter Duckies from your library.
My son loves Clifford stories and the tv show on PBS, so combining Clifford with firefighters was a total win for him! In Clifford the Firehouse Dog, Clifford uses his extreme height to help firefighters rescue people from a tall building and he grabs a water tower and doses the fire with it. I’m always hesitant about firefighter stories that show actual burning buildings because I don’t want to freak kids out, but my son did not find this the least bit frightening. My library had firefighters come and read to kids and this is one that they read to the preschoolers. Hopefully your library carries this Clifford adventure.
Since we love Jonathan London’s Froggy series, we decided to give Firefighter Hippo a chance. Here Comes Firefighter Hippo is a cute story about a little hippo who pretends to be a firefighter. My son loves to pretend to be a firefighter, so this book really resonated with him. Little Hippo sets off on an adventure in his pedal-powered firetruck, running into some difficulties along the way. Bright illustrations add to the enjoyment of this story.
Otis the Tractor is a favorite in our house! We were excited to find a firefighter Otis story at our library 🙂 In Otis and the Kittens, by Loren Long, Otis the Tractor sees smoke coming form the barn and an upset mama cat. Otis saves the kittens and brings them to mama. Mama cat is still upset; Otis thinks there must be a missing kitten. Otis bravely goes to help. Suddenly, the floor collapses and Otis is trapped. Now he needs help too. Not to fear, Otis’ friends rescue him and the kitten. This story provides a great jumping off point to talk about what to do in a fire, showing the danger of being trapped in a burning building.
FIREFIGHTER ACTIVITIES:
Firetruck Craft
Make a firetruck craft from some basic shapes. Your preschooler will be so excited to see the firetruck take shape as they glue everything together!
Supplies needed are:
-construction paper in red, yellow, white, black, & green
-pencil
-ruler
-scissors
-glue
How to Make:
-Draw the shapes to make a firetruck. Ask your preschooler to name the shapes (circle, square, rectangle, etc.)
-Preschoolers can cut out the basic shapes. Since the ladder is intricate, an adult should cut it out.
-Once everything is cut out, glue them onto a separate piece of paper in the shape of a firetruck!
Wheels on the Firetruck Song
We sang our own version of Wheels on the Bus and called it Wheels on the Firetruck. For our firetruck lyrics we sang:
Wheels on the firetruck go round and round. . .
Lights on the firetruck go flash, flash, flash. . .
Ladders on the firetruck go up and down. . .
Hoses on the firetruck go spray, spray, spray. . .
The siren on the firetruck goes whee-eee-o, whee-ee-o, whee-ee-o, the siren on the truck goes whee-ee-o all through the town.
I Spy — Firefighter
Firefighter I Spy: practice counting and writing numbers with this fun Firefighter-themed I Spy activity. Count how many of each picture you see and write the number in the box next to the picture.
I hope you enjoyed these firefighter stories and activities! Check your library for these books and other other firefighter stories : ) To help support this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. Through this program, I get a small percentage of the sales made through my links. Thanks for you support and happy reading!
