Safety City teaches students a variety of lessons
Children who participated in the Safety City program took a trip to Coshocton Elementary School to practice playground safety and work on stranger danger lessons. Rebecca Maddux | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Justin Vu’s favorite part of Safety City was learning, which is exactly what the seven day program was about.
The Red Cross program is funded by United Way and is geared toward children entering kindergarten. It was held June 20-22 and June 25-28 at the fairgrounds.
“We try to teach them as many safety lessons as we can and I try to change it up based on what is going on in our community and the world,” said Angie Moses, Safety City Educator.
One of the lessons they added to was gun safety.
“We got cap guns and play guns and placed them in our city to see if any of the kids would pick them up,” Moses said. “No one picked them up and everyone who saw them went and told a volunteer or the deputy who was with us. That was a really nice way to see that they were learning something. I think a lot of times kids at this age are visual learners.”
Robin Snider from First Step returned this year to talk to the students about good touches and bad touches.
“That’s something important and we were able to find a way to talk to them about it at their level,” Moses said.
She also appreciated again being able to use the smoke house when they talked about fire safety.
“This is the second year we were able to bring it out of retirement,” Moses said. “We are blessed that Chief (Mike) Layton lets us borrow it and will bring some of his fire team out.”
Ava Almack liked it when they practiced riding bikes in the city set up in the youth/FFA building at the fairgrounds.
“We got to learn about making stops,” she said.
The week was filled with many more opportunities to learn about safety including Tuesday’s trip on a school bus to one of the playgrounds at Coshocton Elementary School, where they practiced playing safely and focused on stranger danger.
Bus driver Brenda Collins drove the students to the playground and shared many important safety lessons with them.
“I’ve been doing this for a number of years,” she said. “I just hope I impress something on them that will help them stay safe and stay with them to help their future bus drivers.”
In addition to community members helping to present the lessons each day, Moses had youth volunteers who assist her.
“I enjoy the kids,” said Tavia Cooper. “They are fun to be with and I like helping them learn.”
Forty-six children participated in Safety City, which offered a morning and evening session at the fairgrounds.
“It’s the largest group of kids I’ve had, but I can’t turn any of them away,” Moses said. “We try our best (during the week) to hit on what is important for them to know and help them know what to do in a situation.”
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