Safetyville - Child Safety Game

Safetyville - A Child Safety Game

I write a lot of safety goals, and there are a couple of games that I use in conjunction with that: Safetyville for younger kids and Play it Safe for older kids and adults. I also like to make comics using the super-easy Make Belief Comix free online comic generator, and I use the games on the Nationwide Education website. 

Safetyville is one of those games where I don't always use the board and play the actual game. If the individual is too old and thinks the board game is too "young" for him, I just use the cards to pose the questions, often in the form of a comic strip. Each card has three questions: a beginner (for young kids), an intermediate, and an advanced question, so kids at different levels can play together. Or start with the beginning questions and work one individual up to the advanced level.

Questions are true/false, yes/no, fill in the blank, and multiple choice. Answers are written in red directly under the question. Questions fall into these categories:

• Mall
• Neighbor's House
• Hospital
• School
• Fire Station
• Fountain/Pond
• Park/Playground, Police Station
• Home
• Safetyville

Here is an example of Neighbor's House Questions:

• Beginner - New neighbors moved in next door and your parents met them once. Are they still strangers? Yes or no? (ANSWER: Yes)
• Intermediate - While playing outdoors with your friends, your new neighbor invites all of you into his/her house for lemonade. What should you do? You should: (ANSWER: A)
• A. Tell him/her "no thank you" and tell your parents as soon as possible.
• B. Accept the lemonade because all of your other neighbors are nice people.
• C. Accept the lemonade but tell your parents about it later
• Advanced - Your new neighbor, who your parents have not met, asks you for your help. To be safe, tell the neighbor you ______ help. (ANSWER: cannot)

The game includes 6 pawns (3 girls and 3 boys) and a color block spinner that you will use to move around the board. The path winds around the neighborhood, starting from home and ending at the school.

Object:

The goal is to follow the path through Safetyville until you get to school. Everyone will ultimately be awarded a ribbon and win the game.

Set up:

Put the board in the middle of the playing area, place the spinner nearby, choose a game piece for each player and place them in the top left hand corner of the board on the home space. Shuffle the cards and place them in a face-down pile next to the board. Decide who will read the questions.

Play:

Players take turns. The reader picks up the top card and tells the player what type of question it is (such as true/false, multiple choice, etc.). Read the question and if the player gets the answer correct, he can spin the spinner and move forward along the path to the next space of that color. If he is wrong, he stays where he is and his turn is over.

As players advance along the path, each will eventually arrive at school. Ribbons are given out as players arrive, first place to the first player to arrive, second place to the second player to arrive, etc.  Play until all players have arrived at school and collected a ribbon.

  

Try this:

• Make it a win-win situation. Always help each child arrive at the correct answer, as you want them to understand the principle and remember the correct answer.
• Play a cooperative game. All players discuss the correct answer and the spinner chooses and gives the final answer. They all arrive at school together.
• Let the individual read the multiple choice answers directly from the card, as they may be too long to remember. Cover up the answer.
• Go to Make Belief Comix and make a comic strip or two or three out of each card. Kids have liked reading my comics. Go to the Special Needs - Autism Spectrum section and look for my name to read how I use the comic generator. I wrote the publisher an email once thanking him and telling him how I used his site and he asked if he could publish my email on his site. 
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, manual dexterity, finger isolation, safety awareness, safety rules, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: game board, spinner, 8 game pieces, 4 game piece stands, 52 safety question cards, 4 safety graduate badges, 1 card reader ribbon

Ages 3+, 2-4 players

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.