Equipment for our Fire Truck

Last week I shared that we started to build a fire truck.

But we needed to decide what colour to paint it.

The children decided by voting when they signed in.

They put their picture beside the coloured fire truck they wanted.

Each colour truck is from fire stations in our community.

Over three days voting it was a close race but red won. 

Last Friday we had tours of one of the local fire stations.

Our focus was learning about fire safety but also what equipment is needed

on a fire truck.

The children were given a work bag that contained a clipboard with

an outline of a fire truck.

After listening to firefighter Greg they were to draw in the missing equipment.

I think they did a great job recording what they saw.

Putting Out the Fire

This morning at school this little guy came up to me and asked for something 

that looked like water.  As he stood there he twiddled with his fire helmet.

At first I didn't understand what he was after until I looked over to 

where his mom sat by our fake fireplace.

She held up the black hose and pointed to the end of it.

Ah, he needed water for his fire hose.

We found a piece of tissue paper and he stuck it in the hose and

proceeded to put out the fire.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him putting it out

but when he was done he left the hose there.

A little later another child came along and 

pretended the same thing.

Our fireplace has provided quite a variety of imaginative play.

A Roaring Fire and Toasting Marshmallows

My latest find at the thrift store is this fake fire.

 I set it on stones with several tubes for logs

and turned it on.

A mantel was made by covering a few boxes with paper

and voila we have a cozy, inviting spot.

The little ones were intrigued.

It's like watching the fire on tv.

Some of the older children asked if it was real.

We held our hands in front of it - does it feel hot or cold?

What does a real fire feel like?

Several times in a morning I'll see a parent and child 

sitting together on our 'couch'

in front of the fire.

I think I'll add a basket of story books.

I imagine it may feel like being home for some families that have an open fire.

By the end of the first morning a few children made marshmallows

and were roasting them.

Pretending they were hot and blowing on them to cool

them off.

This morning I put out strips of paper and a stapler and

encouraged families to make paper chains to decorate.

It reminded me of a childhood memory of making lots and lots

of paper chains to decorate the house.

The children worked hard to make the loops and staple them

together.

When one chain was long enough we hung it on the mantel.

What other decorations could we add?