Fire Rescue Small World

A small world that enabled my son to explore fire and rescue. He enjoyed putting out the fires, chopping down the damaged trees and driving his rescue vehicles to tend to the victims.

The set up.

What you need:

There were several components to this activity.

- small world fire themed tub (see below for instructions)

- selection of fire themed toys and tools

- plastic fireman's hat

- some form of emergency vehicle garage filled with a selection of emergency vehicles

- selection of books relating to fire-fighting and fire engines

Contents of the fire-themed small world.

How to make the fire-themed small world tub:

Over the course of a week I kept my eyes out for any materials coloured red, orange and yellow in craft shops. My son already had the fire-themed Playmobil toys so it was just a case of using the materials to build a fun sensory environment.

1. I stuck zig zag strips of red, orange and yellow tissue paper to a piece of card and then stuck that to the base of the tub.

2. I then created a big flames area by sticking snipped pipe cleaners into orange clay (you could also use Play Doh).

3. The small flames area was created using scrunched up red, orange and yellow tissue paper stuck to a piece of card.

4. I created a forest fire section by using small coloured fish tank pebbles and model trees that didn't have any leaves. I then sectioned it off using large pebbles.

5. I provided my son with an empty squirty bottle and used blue coloured pom poms so that he could pretend to put out the fires. I also used red and yellow pom poms for additional fire materials.

6. I came across orange and yellow small Styrofoam balls so I put them in a pot and used popsicle sticks to build a little ladder for the firemen to climb up.

7. Finally I added a few firemen from my son's Playmobil toys (Fire Rescue Crew set, and also the Fireman of the Special Brigade Against Fires figure, both from the City Action range) which also included a fire hydrant. I threw in a few small toy cats for good measure too.

Close up of materials used.

Forest fire section.

Enjoying the small world:

This was one of our most played with small world tubs. My son loved exploring all of the different sections and kept finding new ways to play with the contents. He loved having the hat and tools, they added a fun role play aspect to the activity. What I really liked was how my son started to incorporate his other toys by setting up emergency situations that required his firemen to leave the tub in their rescue vehicles. It was great to see his imagination in full flow and I liked how he was confident using so many different sensory materials. 

We also enjoyed linking the small world to his books, especially comparing all of his different emergency vehicles with the Rescue page from 'The Ultimate Book of Vehicles: From Around the World' book by Anne-Sophie Baumann and Didier Balicevic. This was quite a time-consuming activity to prepare but it was well worth the effort.

Very happy little fireman.