A home fire happens every 86 seconds, yet half of parents say their kids wouldn’t know what to do if their smoke alarm went off.
is when we’ll change that by turning drills into family games.
Learn the basics before you play.
Fire Drill Games teach kids how to escape a home fire in ways that are fun and memorable. Use your awesome parenting powers to make up fun prizes you can enjoy as a family – like staying up late together for pajama movie night – if everyone aces your home fire drill.
Kids watch TV on Saturdays, and commercial breaks are about two minutes long. What a coincidence –that’s how long it should take you to safely escape your home in a fire. So let’s practice fire drills during commercial breaks. The challenge: Can your family get from the TV to the safety spot in under two minutes?
Prize: Beat the challenge and get to watch an extra TV show before bed.
How fast can your family get to the safety spot without running? Race against the two-minute timer to speedwalk from your bedrooms to the safety spot. Want to raise the stakes? Get there in less than one minute. But no running.
Prize: Under two minutes? Breakfast for dinner. Under one minute? Ice cream for dessert.
It’s important to know how to escape if the smoke alarm goes off at night. Can you get out in under two minutes...in the dark? Practice your home fire drill at night, with all the lights turned off. If everyone makes it to the safety spot in two minutes or less, it’s a win. Recommended for kids over 6.
Prize: Stargaze in your yard on blankets, or tell ghost stories inside, with mugs of hot chocolate.
You can walk out of your home in two minutes. But can you crawl out? If there’s smoke, you’re supposed to stay low. So practice escaping on all fours from different rooms in your home. When you get outside, get back on your feet and dash to your family’s safety spot. Recommended for kids over 6.
Prize: If the family makes it in two minutes, everyone gets to sleep in a pillow fort.
Everyone in your family needs to know all the ways out of each room in your home. Challenge your family to think like ninjas. Whoever can identify the most ways out of every room is the Biggest Ninja. Use our worksheet to draw all the ways out that you think of. Ninja wisdom: Not every exit is a door.
Prize: For the rest of the day, everyone gets to go by ninja names.
Help kids get familiar with the sound and meaning of a beeping smoke alarm with this twist on musical chairs. When the music starts to play, move around the chairs; when the music stops playing, quickly sit in a chair. Every few rounds, beep the smoke alarm and have all the players (adults and kids) abandon the game to get to the safety spot.
Prize: Whoever reaches the safety spot first without running gets to be the DJ for the next round.
Did your family pass all the challenges? Did you think of an awesome new fire drill game? Tweet about it using #HomeFireDrillDay to spread the word to other families.
Make a pledge to practice your home fire drill twice a year and get your friends to do the same. Spread the word about Fire Drill Games, and we'll send a virtual high five and one million warm fuzzies your way.
Want more home fire safety tips? How about a stopwatch designed just for home fire drills? Download the Make Safe Happen app for all of this and more.
Make Safe Happen launched Home Fire Drill Day, coinciding with the last day of Fire Prevention Week. Home fires are one of the biggest safety threats facing American families today - there’s one every 86 seconds. Our goal is to encourage and empower parents to teach their children what to do in the event of a home fire. Together, we can #MakeSafeHappen.
Source 1: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Source 2: Survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Nationwide Insurance from November 4, 2015 to November 13, 2015.
Source 3: The app is owned by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and developed by the safety experts in its Center for Injury Research and Policy. It was made possible in part by a grant from the Nationwide Foundation.
© 2019 Nationwide Children’s Hospital 700 Children’s Dr. Columbus, OH 43205
