Jr. Fire Fighter Costume

Product Description

Communicative 4

Skills

• Language skills are heightened as children act out a story they know, an encounter they have had or their own imagination. 
• Social skills can be incorporated into play as children take turns wearing the costume and being the person needing rescued.  Negotiation skills and verbal communication also emerge.
• Receptive language skills can be targeted.  Using your own play phone or pretend play phone, call the fire fighter on the phone and tell him a brief story, such as “Please help.  I’ve lost four animals in my house.  I know two are in the living room and two are in the kitchen.  Please help me find them.”  The child needs to listen and process what has been said and then rely on memory and recall skills to help the person on the phone and locate the animals.

Play Ideas

• Prior to trick or treating at Halloween, wear this costume and practice what happens to decrease anxiety level of a novel situation.
• Act out elaborate stories of saving people from a burning building or rescuing a cat from high in a tree.  Verbalize the story to work on sequencing of events and telling a story in order of occurrence.
• Create an emergency plan for your home.  Have the child act as the fire fighter to get everyone safely out.  The caregiver can give the child guidance for what the fire fighters would do or say, where s/he would have the family go and how s/he would put out the fire.  This exercise can help prepare a child should a fire actually happen.

Physical 3

Skills

• Balance and weight shifting are used when children put on the pants one leg at a time.
• Fine motor skills are used to put on the costume, such as hook the suspenders and zip the coat. 
• As children move around and fight fires, they are practicing gross motor skills and increasing coordination.

Play Ideas

• Rescue your own stuffed animals and dolls from the fire.  Set them up on different levels for your child to reach up high and squat down low to retrieve them.
• Create an emergency plan for your home.  Have the child act as the fire fighter to get everyone safely out.  The caregiver can give the child guidance for what the fire fighters would do or say, where s/he would have the family go and how s/he would put out the fire.  This exercise can help prepare a child should a fire actually happen.

Social/Emotional 4

Skills

• The costume encourages pretend play. 
• Self help skills such as zippering, connecting Velcro and buckling can be practiced. 
• Along with creativity and imagination, self-esteem is promoted as children pretend to be a fire fighter. 

Play Ideas

• Create an emergency plan for your home in case of a fire. 
• Go to the library and search for books on fire fighting. Read stories to learn more about public servants.