Triple Zero (000) is Australia’s primary emergency number for requesting assistance from police, fire, or ambulance services. There are many examples, from both Australia and overseas, where children as young as four years old have played a pivotal role in saving lives and property by calling Triple Zero and providing the information needed to obtain assistance from the emergency services. Knowing when and how to call Triple Zero is an important life skill that all children should learn. This is how we teach our Kids College children about police officers, firemen and the ambulance services.
Thank you to the New South Wales Emergency Helpers early childhood Emergency program for your inspiration and resources.
Kids College emergency services program teaches children:
- How to identify an emergency service worker
- Learning the number to call in an emergency
- The importance of learning their home address
1.How to Identify an emergency service worker
Children need to be able to identify emergency service workers such as paramedics, police officers and firefighters.
- Paramedics help people who are sick or hurt.
- Police officers make sure the community is safe.
- Firefighters put out fires.
Paramedics wear a dark blue shirt and dark blue pants. Paramedics help people who are sick or hurt. Paramedics carry bags with medicine in it which can make people who are sick or hurt feel better. The Ambulance is red and white. It has flashing lights on top and looks like a big van.
Police Officers wear a light blue shirt and dark blue pants. Police officers help people who are lost or scared. Police Officers wear a light blue shirt and dark blue pants. Police officers help people who are lost or scared The Police car is blue and white with flashing lights and a noisy siren.
Firefighters wear black and yellow uniforms with large helmets and big boots. Firefighters put out fires and rescue people from burning buildings. Firefighters wear black and yellow uniforms with large helmets and big boots. Firefighters put out fires and rescue people from burning buildings. Firefighters use the hose to put out fires by squirting water onto it. The Fire truck is big and red with a ladder on the top and flashing blue and red lights.
Learning the number to call in an emergency
The emergency phone number 000 is referred to as ‘Zero Zero Zero’ not ‘Triple 0’. This eliminates the possibility of children not being able to understand or remember the meaning of ‘triple’.
We need to ensure children can dial ‘Zero Zero Zero’ correctly. Use an old phone and/or an old mobile phone to get the children to practice how to dial the number.
3.The importance of learning their home address
We explain why houses and units are given different numbers for identification (just like children are given different first names for identification).
We help them to learn their address. Involving families will increase the likelihood of the child retaining the information.
Keep the info near the fridge or by the phone and it is important the children know where it is. Let the children know they can use this info when calling ‘Zero Zero Zero’ if they can’t remember their details
Rehearse the important information children would need to give to the operator when calling ‘Zero Zero Zero’ (name, address, phone number).
Activities we enjoyed to teach about ambulance services and paramedics
Lynn from youth and community services St Johns Ambulance paid us a visit in a real ambulance. It is a retired ambulance all decked out by the Wiggles.
Miss Lynn read us a story and introduced us to Kura the bear. Through this storybook ‘000 Hero’ and with the aid of Kura the Bear, our children saw how to identify an emergency, what number to call in an emergency and understood the role of who can help in an emergency. We recorded Miss Lynn reading the story so we could watch it again and again and wanted to share it with you all too. You never know who it could help.
The children got to sit in the ambulance and help Miss Lynn give Kura the bear suction and squeeze the bag to give Kura oxygen. Miss Lynn was fabulous and we all loved her incursion. The children were delighted and we all went mad when she showed us the siren.
On our St Johns ambulance incursion day we also enjoyed the Wiggles Song about calling 000. Children loved the music and learnt the lyrics so quickly. Miss Lynn gave them each a pretend phone and we all dialled 000 together.
Wiggles song about calling 000
https://www.facebook.com/StJohnWesternAustralia/videos/336563864562317/
Thanks so much to the Wiggles for making this song what means so much and has the real potential to save lives. You never know what the future holds, and we would like children to understand that paramedics and ambulance are there to help.
This has sparked the children’s interest in playing doctors and nurses. We are currently enjoying playing with all the medical equipment we have. I love watching children bandage up their teddys and use a boat load of band aids to fix boo boos.
We loved our Hospital Familiarisation Program visit from AWCH.
The Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital (AWCH) is a not for profit organisation that exists to promote the welfare of children, especially their emotional and social well being, within hospitals and other health care services.
In order to increase children’s knowledge and reduce their anxiety about hospitalisation and medical care, the Hospital Familiarisation Program (HFP) is offered to children from Kindy to year 3 throughout the metropolitan area. For our program we employ and train presenters with early childhood and/or nursing qualifications.
Interactive mat talk– the presenter has a wide range of medical equipment to demonstrate on our life sized doll.
DVD – called “Let’s Play Hospitals” which further prepares children by following a young boy who breaks his arm and goes into hospital for treatment. There are young children role-playing at being in hospital too.
Role-Play– the children will have plenty of time to dress up in hospital uniforms and use medical equipment on our life sized doll. They can also have a turn on our wheel chair and crutches and play with our hospital play-sets and hospital puzzles and books.
Activities we enjoyed to teach about police officers
A police officer is a person whose job is to help keep people safe The police officer is a safe stranger. Because young children often hear scary stories about strangers and learn about avoiding strangers, it’s important to differentiate between safe strangers and strangers who may not be safe. Point out police officers, designating them as “safe strangers” who can help your child if he needs it. So being able to identify a policeman is important.
Teaching what police officers do. A police officer has many important duties that are a part of his job. Some of these duties include helping people in trouble, providing first aid if someone is hurt, finding people who get lost, making sure that everyone obeys laws, looking for and catching people who break laws, and patrolling (watching) areas to make sure everyone stays safe.
Police officers help people follow laws. Laws are rules that keep everyone safe and need to be obeyed. One of our rules is that we don’t hurt each other. Rules are important because they keep everyone safe and they ensure that everyone knows how they should behave
What does a policeman look like? First, a police officer wears a special uniform with a badge so that everyone recognizes that they are a police officer. A police officer also has handcuffs that she uses to handcuff a person when arresting him. A police officer also carries a flashlight so she can see in the dark.
Red light, yellow light, green light… game. We have made an indoor and an outdoor road village complete with roads and traffic signs. Children will have fun riding around your village on tricycles or in push cars. Outside and inside they use circles to pretend they are driving. We used red, green, and yellow circles to represent traffic lights.
When the green light is shown, children can drive around our village as fast as they wish. However, when the yellow light is displayed, they must slow down. Hold the red light up, they must stop where they are. If a child moves while the red light is displayed, blow a whistle and hand him a speeding ticket. For example, have him sing a song to pay his fine.
Traffic lights game. We got children to form a line at one end of the playground. Used red, green, and yellow circles to represent traffic lights and indicated how children are to move towards you. Show the red light, they must stop in their tracks. Show the green light, they run towards you, but if you show the yellow light, they must walk instead of run. The first child who reaches you becomes the leader for the next round.
The police officer says… game. As in “Simon says…”, give children instructions. Pop a police hat on and use the prompt “Officer Simon says……”. They must execute the suggested actions only if you say, “Officer Simon says…” first. Use this activity to encourage children to be active and reinforces that we must trust and obey our police officer and keep to the rules.
Your special fingerprints art. Each person is born with unique fingerprints. Fingerprints are special to you and are different on everybody. Kind of like how your face looks different to other people. Fingerprints are patterns on the tiny tips of our fingers with ridges on the tips to allow our fingers that allows us to grips and hold toys and pencils. By seeing our fingerprints, we can identify who we are. Your fingerprints leave an invisible ink that police can use to identify you. Police officers keep these records so they can match you to your fingerprints and identify you.
Visit from Police officers
We had a special visit from the police providing an exciting opportunity for us to learn about the role of the police in our community. The children gathered eagerly as the police officers arrived ready to learn and ask questions. The officers shared valuable information about their roles in the community explaining how they keep us safe and maintain law and order. The children had a chance to see their badges showcasing the importance of identification an authority.
One of the highlights of the Police visit was the opportunity to explore the exciting police car the children excitedly climbed inside marvelling at the different features and equipment. They listened to the sirens and learned about the various functions of the police vehicle. This hands-on experience allowed them to visualise the police officers work environment and deepen their understanding of the tools they use to protect and serve us.
At our police visit the officers brought along handcuffs which the children were curious to try out stop although their hands were too small to fit they learned about the purpose of the handcuffs in safely restraining individuals this emphasise the importance of following our rules and laws in our societies. Throughout the visit our children actively engaged in discussions asking questions to further their understanding they showed curiosity and enthusiasm demonstrating the interest in the role of the police in keeping our community safe.
See your own fingerprints
- Place hand on page, trace around the shape of your hand.
- Push your finger tips one by one onto the ink pad.
- Then press and roll onto a white piece of paper to transfer the ink patterns where your fingers are drawn when you traced your hand
- Now go wash your hands.
Lift your own fingerprints off things you touch
- Push your fingertip onto a clean metallic surface.
- Finely dust very gently with a brush of talcum powder.
- Blow the excess talc off.
- Use piece of clear tape and press down on top of the fingerprint gently to lift the impression off.
- Peel the tape off and sick the tape onto a piece of black paper.
- These are your fingerprints that you left on the metal surface.
Activities we enjoyed to teach about fire safety
Firefighters are your friends and are safe people to go to, particularly when there is a fire Firefighters are community helpers just like doctors, police officers and ambulance officers. Firefighters help the community stay safe by putting out fires, rescuing people from fires and car accidents, attending medical emergencies, teaching the community about fire safety, and more. Firefighters wear special clothing and equipment to keep themselves safe from fire. They wear special jackets, pants, hoods, and gloves to protect their body from fire. They wear boots to protect their feet from sharp objects and helmets to protect their heads from falling objects. They wear facemasks connected to air cylinders which allow them to breathe in clean air when they go into fires. They use radios to communicate with each other and Distress Signal Units (DSU) which makes a loud sound when they are injured.
Play is an important vehicle for children to explore their developing understandings in a safe environment and will strengthen their retention of what to do in the event of an emergency. We provide children with garden hoses, fluorescent vests, gumboots, and plastic helmets to use in a firefighter role play.
We used the painting easel, to paint in shades of yellow, orange, and red for the children to paint fire or a fire truck. We also created a fire station and two fire engines out of boxes with the children. They loved our pretend fire extinguishers we made and spent hours putting out pretend fires.
Stop, drop and roll game. Using the Stop, Drop and Roll Scenario Cards, call up one child at a time to choose a card from a pile and show it to the rest of the group. Guide the children into deciding what the appropriate action is to the situation depicted on the card. A ‘stop, drop and roll’ response. Have the children demonstrate the correct response and reinforce that they have put out the fire and are now safe.
Fire safety evacuation for adults is learnt by the children
- Fire Evacuation Plan. Show the children the our Fire Evacuation Plan displayed in the building. Show them where their room is located on the plan. Discuss what the lines and arrows mean. Identify the safe meeting place and discuss the safest and quickest way to get there.
- Fire Evacuation Procedure. Discuss our Fire Evacuation Procedure. This involves the blowing of a whistle, lining up at the door, a head count, following an educator, the correct evacuation route, and assembly at a safe meeting place.
- Fire Evacuation Drill. We regularly practice fire evacuation drills and in our everyday we line children up and count them as they com e in or out of rooms or buildings.
- After the drill, we discuss what the children thought about the drill. What worked (i.e., they followed the educator, walked calmly, stayed quiet) and what did not work (i.e., they talked too much which made it hard for the educator to give directions, they did not stay in two straight lines, they did not wait to be counted). Discussed how you can all work together to keep each other safe if a fire were to occur at the service.
DFES Education and Heritage Centre, Fire Safety for early childhood education
We have been learning about first responders and have been busy in our rooms playing fireman, policemen, ambulance officers and nurses. One of our lovely parents went over the weekend to play with the fire engines. She had a ball and couldn’t get her little boy to leave. She highly recommends taking your little ones to this amazing experience. I thought I would let you all know how amazing this place is and appropriate for young age groups.
The DFES Education and Heritage Centre, is located only a short walk from the Murray Street Mall in Perth City on the corner of Irwin St and Murray St, just before Victoria Square. The original building was the first purpose built fire station in WA, and now houses displays of both past and present emergency services.
On Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursdays you can enter the DFES Education and Heritage centre FREE! This beautifully restored and maintained building still looks like it did back in the day inside and out, with a few modern touches too! Kids will love the real fire truck with flashing lights and open compartments when you first walk in the door. Here kids can put on a fire fighters jacket and helmet and stand next to the fire truck for a photo!
There are also some old fire trucks on display and they can turn the water valves at the back
Upstairs (which can be accessed by lift also making the building pram & disabled accessible) there is a fabulous activity area with educational colouring-in sheets, books and puzzles.
There are also several interactive educational displays about fire prevention, earthquake rescue, cyclones and other emergency situations where DFES is required to respond and act and manage.
Kids will also love this display where they can practice to “get down low and go go go”!
Because this a beautiful preserved fire station there is still the original fire pole there. Kids will love giving this a go, either down stairs or upstairs where you can stand on a glass panel and look down to the fire trucks below.
We highly recommend you put a visit to the DFES Education and Heritage Centre on your list of things to do while you are next in the city with the kids. This is an fantastic hands on, interactive museum that provides lots of educational opportunities for kids and families about natural hazards and being prepared for emergencies – and it’s FUN! We recommend that kids 3 years and above would probably get the most of out of your visit.
Open Tues, Wed & Thurs from 10-3pm and every 1st & 3rd Saturday from 10am – 2pm
(Closed over Dec / Jan holidays)DFES Education and Heritage Centre Features: Education Centre * Parking Nearby (Paid) * Short Walk from Murray Street Mall * Disabled & Pram Accessible * Baby Change Facilities * No Refreshments Available * Royal Perth Hospital Red Cat Stop * Entry FREE * Open Tues – Thurs, 10-3pm & every 1st & 3rd Saturday of the Month, 10am – 2pm * Close for Dec/Jan Holidays
The Triple Zero Kid’s Challenge
The Triple Zero Kids’ Challenge is a comprehensive set of educational resources that provide children with the essential knowledge and skills they need to become competent, confident and responsible users of the Triple Zero emergency service number. The Triple Zero Kids’ Challenge provides children with knowledge and skills, through game play and mystery challenges. They’ll learn about safety messages and hear what happens when you call Triple Zero. The game consists of several quests that address a range of emergency situations, including medical emergencies, major accidents, house fires, bushfires, serious crimes and suspicious behaviours.
They’ll learn about safety messages and hear what happens when you call Triple Zero. Along the way they will meet the “Zeros” as they are guided step by step through the game.
Click on the game below to get started!
https://www.police.wa.gov.au/Our-Community/Student-and-Teacher-Resources/Triple-Zero-Kids-Challenge
SES visit from Lance, Natalie and Christelle
Our Kids College children have been learning about and appreciating our everyday heroes. Today we had a very special visit from Lance, Natalie and Christelle, all SES super heroes from WA State Emergency Services.
We learnt that SES are superheroes who choose to help people in need, they help fire trucks, help police to find missing people and help fix storm damage.
We got to explore their truck full of fascinating things, sit in the truck and try on the helmets. Our children were very excited to be hands on involved in learning how the SES assists the injured, helps save lives and homes and finds lost people.
State Emergency Service Volunteers are ordinary people who do extraordinary things for their community.
The SES is focused on ensuring that WA communities can cope with emergencies. It is a volunteer organisation that assists the community in land & air searches, storm damage operations, flood relief, cliff & cave rescue, and cyclone and earthquake operations. They also assist with fire support, car versus house incidents and evacuations.
Their local area of operation is 2,000 square kms & is made up of the cities of Wanneroo and Joondalup, a population of over 200,000 people. The WJ-SES has a lead role in managing the Cities of Wanneroo and Joondalup action plans and emergency responses for floods, cyclones, storms, earthquakes and tsunami threats as well as assisting other agencies in their roles.
We encourage children to be socially responsible and learning about different roles in the community is a major part of this learning, as well as sharing their learning with others to promote community awareness. Kindness and community spirit is such an important value to encourage.
What is Thank a First Responder Day?
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 is Thank a First Responder Day, when Australians are invited to show their appreciation for the selfless work our first responders do for the community.
Our aim on June 8, 2022 is to make this voice of gratitude loud – to encourage every Australian to say thanks to those who put others first, in the line of duty. We know this public acknowledgement of the sacrifice made by first responders and their families is essential to mental wellbeing, and plays a key role in helping them feel socially connected and part of their communities.
First responders are ordinary people, just like us. They have families, commitments, and homes to go to at the end of their working day. They’ve got dinner to make, shopping to do, and bills to pay.
But they also dedicate every day to protecting and keeping us safe.
Whether it’s the firefighters who battled the infernos that wrought havoc on our nation, the paramedics who respond to emergency situations every day, the marine rescue teams, police and lifesavers working to find missing persons and keep our communities safe, or the SES men and women who leave their own families at home to ensure that another family has a roof over their heads. We owe every one of them – as well as the families who support them through it all – a debt of gratitude.
Yet many of Australia’s 300,000 first responders receive little thanks for what they do. We need to change that.
A very special thank you from all of us at Kids College to all the first responders who keep us safe, and a special mention to our very own hero, John.
https://firstresponderday.com.au
Kids College Philosophy quote
‘We have stringent hygiene, health, nutrition, maintenance, safety and protection standards. We take our duty of care very seriously and will safeguard the safety and wellbeing of our children at all times as a matter of utmost priority.’
National Quality Standards
2.2.2 Incident and emergency management. plans to effectively manage incidents and emergencies are developed in consultation with relevant authorities, practiced and implemented.
2.2.1 Supervision. At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervision ensure children are protected from harm and hazard.
Kids College family
At Kids College we work each day embedding our values and philosophy into each facet of what we do. We continually improve our practices by critically reflecting and engaging in meaningful relationships with our community and for this we need your support and input. Please let us know if you have any comments, queries or recommendations.
Make sure to follow Kids College Childcare on facebook, watch for our regular emails and keep an eye on our Kids College website. Join our Kids College family community and share in our vision of creating the very best childcare where children experience love, laughter and learning every day. You can reach us on Jennifer@kidscollege.com.au
With love, laughter and learning from your friends in the
‘village it takes to raise a child’
Teacher Jen and the Kids College Childcare family
