Safety Rules Role-Play and Walk

Supports this milestone

• demonstrates knowledge of personal safety practices and routines. — Head Start ELOF

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Materials

• Picture cards or photos of common hazards, such as a hot stove, a busy street, and a moving swing
• A pretend crosswalk made with tape or chalk
• A toy stop sign or a red and green card

Steps

• Show a hazard card and ask the children what makes it unsafe and what to do.
• Practice the crosswalk routine, stop, look both ways, listen, then walk holding a hand.
• Role-play noticing a hazard and telling an adult or friend about it.
• Act out keeping a safe distance from a moving swing or a hot pretend stove.
• Take a short guided walk to use the stop-look-listen routine at a real curb.

Variations

• Make a class safety book where each child draws one rule they practiced.
• Add a fire-drill or buckle-up routine to the role-play.

Differentiation

• For children who need support, use picture sequences and practice one routine at a time.
• For a challenge, ask children to explain a rule to a younger friend.

Accessibility

• Use picture sequences, songs, and consistent cue words to teach routines.
• Practice routines repeatedly in real settings for children who learn by doing.

Safety

• On any real walk, adults supervise closely and keep children within reach; safety practice supplements, not replaces, supervision.

Practices these skills

• Follows Personal Safety Practices

Evidence

• Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) — U.S. Office of Head Start · 2015 · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services