Fire Safety + Trip to the Fire Station

What an awesome time we had at the firehouse today!

Firefighter J.T., who showed us around, was very obliging when given a challenge to put on all his firefighter gear in under one minute.  

When his minute was almost complete, the fire alarm actually went off and the fire fighters had to go to a call!  I was actually a little anxious when it went off (OK, I about peed my pants), but they were all calm, cool, and collected.  They let all the kids stand by and watch the fire truck go to the rescue!

I was incredibly impressed by the firefighters.  I was even a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed our visit.  It was such a great learning experience for both the little kids and us bigger kids.  I would be very proud if one of my hoodlums grew up to fight fires one day.

Once we got home, Merrick and I had to try out an experiment we originally found on Pinterest (surprise, surprise).  You can find the original link here at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  In this experiment, we discussed the three things fire needs: heat, air, and fuel.  Then, we demonstrated how to remove each of those and put out a fire.  

Merrick enjoyed this experiment so much that we repeated it at least three or four times.  This part was my favorite - putting a glass over the candle and watching the flame "explode" (in Merrick's words).

We also played a couple of games that we printed out for free at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Merrick's favorite was probably this one.  He loves math games.  He may or may not have beaten me this round.

We also read through several fire books that we got from the library earlier this week.

The twins had a blast coloring a book we printed from the preschool Fireman pack here at Homeschool Creations.

Lastly, Merrick and I went over what to do if his clothes caught on fire.  Though I was tempted to teach him to "stop, drop, and rock n' roll,"  I didn't.  I taught him correctly.  Sadly, however, after several minutes of dramatically putting out fake fires on our clothes, we were covered head to toe with bruises, as our home has mostly tile floor.

Happy Fire Safety Day, Everyone!