Poison Prevention In the Home 

Through a mini Poison Prevention unit, we can teach preschoolers that:
1. Poisons can be anything that hurts you when it gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, or skin
2. Some poisons look like good things to eat or drink, and some things that smell good can harm us
3. Sometimes we might know what something is (ie: shampoo) but if we don't use it properly, it can poison us
4. Children need to ask adults before tasting, touching, or smelling something they aren't sure about

Activities:

From Stormie:
Look-Alikes:
*Purchase candy and medicine look-alikes.  On paper, glue them next to their product name.  Examples of look-alikes are: Sudafed/Red Hots, Tums/SweeTarts, Tylenol/Good & Plenty.  Ask the children, "Can you tell which is candy and which is medicine?"  Discuss how medicines can sometimes look like our favorite candies.  How can children find out for sure?  (Ask an adult.)  By the way, adults should never call medicines candy!
*Fill clear bottles with apple juice, whiskey, and Pine-Sol.  Keep the caps on!  Ask the children, "Can you tell which bottle is safe to taste?"  Discuss how some harmful liquids (Pine-Sol and whiskey) can look like safe ones (apple juice).  How can children find out which is which?  (Ask an adult.)
*Other things you can compare to get the point across about appearances: water and clear alcohol or ammonia, moth balls and marshmallows, can of comet and can of parmesan cheese

Medicines: Show children a bottle of familiar children's medicine and ask them if they've seen it before?  They may say "yes."  Then ask, "Do you know how much medicine to take?"  (No)  Who does know?  (Mommy/Daddy/doctor)  Discuss the important rule of children not taking medicine on their own.

Shampoo: Show the children a bottle of pretty shampoo and let them smell it.  "This is shampoo.  What do we use shampoo for?  Isn't it pretty?  Doesn't it smell good?  If it's so good for our hair, and smells so good, and we like it, is it also good to drink?"  Discuss how some things may be good for one part of our bodies but harmful to another part.  (Drinking shampoo would make us very sick because it's harmful to the inside of our bodies.)

"Safe/Not Safe" Collage: Provide magazine pictures of items that are safe and not safe to taste (and/or touch/smell).  Give each child paper that has been divided into two sides.  Label one side "Safe To Taste" and draw a happy face with it.  Label the other side "Not Safe To Taste" and draw a sad face beside the words.  Children then glue the magazine pictures into the appropriate columns.  Involve them in lots of discussion.

Here's a great idea from Kristen Cook, Payson, Utah, that gets parents involved in what their children are learning at school:
Homemade "Yuk" Stickers: In light of not having "Yuk" stickers, I purchased red "Color Coding Label Dots."  I drew sad faces on them to represent "danger."  Each child took 10 sad face red sticker dots home.  I also sent home a note explaining to parents that I wanted them to walk through the house with their child and place the dots on items that are (or could be) harmful/poisonous.  I also reminded "Moms and Dads" that they could purchase more sticker dots for continuing the activity.

I INCLUDE POISONOUS ANIMALS IN MY FEBRUARY PAGES AND POISONOUS PLANTS IN MY APRIL PAGES
---------------------------------------------------------

Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards."  Click here to check them out.

CONTINUE ON

OR
REVIEW NOV CURRICULUM    CURRICULUMS INDEX    WEBSITE INDEX    HOME