Fun Summer Safety Activities for Kids

Teach Toddlers + Preschoolers About Summer Safety With These Fun Activities

Swimming, bike rides, nature hikes: School is out, and it’s time for fun summer safety activities with the kids!

While summer brings fun and sun, there are also lots of things that can go wrong while enjoying these activities.

That’s why it’s important not only for us to take safety precautions, but to teach our toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten children — even bigger kids — about summer safety topics.

A few topics to go over:

 

• water safety (swimming, boating, etc.)
• sun and pest protection
• safely handling animals and insects
• safety while riding a bike
• first aid basics
• traffic safety (crossing a road)
• safety while hiking
• fire safety
• weather safety
• safety while camping
• ATV safety

 

While it’s important to go over all these summer safety topics with your kids, choose those that are most relevant in your life right now and focus on them.

For example, we live on a lake right now, so it’s imperative that my daughter learns about water safety (she’s getting pretty good about remembering sun protection!).

We discuss the rules pretty frequently, but it helps if you can come up with some fun summer safety activities for kids to help them understand why summer safety is so important.

Let’s go over some ways to incorporate safety lessons into the kiddos’ playtime.

 

 

Summer Safety Activity Sheets

Print out summer safety coloring pages for your kids and give them some crayons. Let them color while discussing the importance of whichever safety topic you have chosen.

Check out my Summer Safety Activities for Kids Pinterest board, where you will find coloring pages and more — and be sure to click the button to Follow the board (or my profile) for more fun ideas!

 

Summer Safety Crafts for Preschoolers & Toddlers

Gather up some art supplies and create something related to summer safety.

Here are a few ideas:

 

1. Make traffic lights using either red, yellow, and green construction paper…or let them paint on small paper plates then attach the lights to a piece of construction paper.
2. Cut a paper plate to make a sun visor, attach some string, then let them decorate their own visors.
3. Use a paper plate and/or construction paper to make a sun wearing sunglasses.
4. Use packing paper or large sheets of paper to draw roads, complete with railroad tracks and stop signs, that they can drive toy cars on.

 

Books About Summer Safety

Read fun children’s books together about summer safety topics — or create your own books with some crayons and blank paper.

Where can you find books on summer safety? Your local library might have some of these books on hand, otherwise here are a few summer safety books for kids that you can find on Amazon:

 

• Llama Llama Learns to Swim
• Daniel’s Day at the Beach
• Kids Don’t Float: Water Safety

 

Safety Flashcards

You can create your own flashcards with some card stock and scissors.

Here’s how:

 

1. Cut your card stock to the desired size.
2. Either draw directly on the cards, or print out pictures related to summer safety and glue to the cards.
3. Laminate the flashcards (if you’d like them to last a while!).

 

As you go through the cards, have your kids determine whether the activities on each card are safe or unsafe.

Pro Mom Tip: If the cards are laminated, they can even use a WASHABLE dry erase markers to write on them, then wipe them clean to be reused later.

 

Fun Outdoor Games

Slather on some sunscreen and head outside for some fun, educational games!

 

• Have the kids find supplies to build an outdoor shelter that will provide shade, then play games under the shade.
• Play “Simon Says” with summer safety actions that they can mime (Simon says, “Put on your sunscreen.”).
• Go on a scavenger hunt for summer safety-related items (bike helmet, life vest, a shade tree, etc.).
• Use sidewalk chalk to draw roads, complete with traffic signs, and have the kids ride their bikes on the “roads” while teaching them how to obey the signs.

 

Safety Songs

I had to update this post to include summer safety songs to  the list. I mean, we’re always singing in our house…how could I forget it?! Kenna has all these kids’ songs memorized, and she even makes up her own lyrics to these songs.

I can’t take the credit for this one, but it was shared in the comments by my friend Karla from MoreOnMyPlate.com and it’s a great way to teach your kiddos about traffic safety!

 

Twinkle, Twinkle traffic light
On the corner shining bright.
Red means stop, Green means go.
Yellow means go, but take it slow.
Twinkle, twinkle traffic light,
on the corner shining bright.

 

(Sing to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

 

Additional Summer Safety Tips

1. If you’re going somewhere there’s a crowd, take a picture of each child so you have documentation of what they’re wearing in case they get lost.

2. When camping or hiking in the woods, give each child a whistle to wear around their neck and show them how to blow into in if they get lost.

3. Teach your children to never approach an unknown vehicle, no matter what the person says to them — some people will entice them by asking to help find a lost puppy or (the age-old trick) offering them candy.

4. If you live in an area where there are ticks, be sure to check them thoroughly every day. If you remove them within 24 hours, they are less likely to transmit a dangerous disease.

5. When you head outdoors, fill up a water bottle for each child and remind them to take a drink every once in a while.

 

Conclusion

Activities make learning about summer safety fun, but it’s important to put these lessons into action as well.

Swimming lessons are a great way to teach kids about water safety while actually practicing it.

Go for bike rides as a family, and practice riding on the correct side of the road, as well as obeying traffic signals. Let them help clean scrapes and apply bandages when they get hurt.

Have a great — and safe — summer!

 

Need more summer fun ideas? Check out the list of ideas below.

 

Recommended Reading: 

Outdoor Family Activities to Enjoy at Home This Summer

How to Host the Perfect Backyard Bonfire Party This Summer

21 Awesome Summer Camp Ideas at Home