Here are December health program ideas to incorporate into your library’s overall programming strategy – brought to you by The Pulse, part of the Gale Health and Wellness Resource Center.
Did you know that according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA):
- December is the most common month for household fires caused by candles and that Christmas is the peak day?
- On December 24th, 25th and 26th, injuries and deaths caused by fires and dollar loss from fires increase an average of 50%, 61%, and 43%, respectively?
- Half of home heating fires are reported during the months of December, January and February?
Not only is the winter holiday season a prime time for household fires, but it is also when dangerous winter weather hits, alcohol is frequently featured at holiday parties, lots of new toys are given to children, kitchens are used more frequently and leftover food abounds – all of these posing risks of their own.
The good news is that holiday and winter fires and accidents are for the most part preventable, and promoting Holiday Safety and Cold Weather Safety Month at your library will be a snap with these free resources and with information from Gale Health and Wellness Resource Center:
- Quick and Easy: printable coloring pages and other activities for children and handy printables for adults.
- Featured Resources: books for children and adults and links to reliable information online
- Book Club: ideas for your book discussion group
- Tie In: Discuss Winter Weather Safety during story time
- Community Resources: local agencies to contact
- Publicity Resources: free items to help you publicize Winter and Holiday Fire Safety at your library through social networking sites or traditional printed materials
- Fun Stuff: links to interactive information
Quick and Easy
Coloring Pages and Activities for Children:
- Coloring Pages
- Fire Safety Coloring Pages and Crafts from DLTK-kids
- Christmas Tree Safety Coloring Page from Survive Alive
- Holiday Safety Coloring Page and Winter Safety Coloring Page from Saskatchewan Prevention Institute
- Champ’s Toy Safety Coloring Book from New York State Consumer Protection Board
- Lets Get Ready! Join Grover and Elmo from Sesame Street in this activity booklet to learn how families get ready for emergencies, also in Spanish.
- Be Food Safe activity booklet from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Christmas Tree Safety Tags to print, cut out, and give to local tree sellers
- Fire Prevention Gift Tags to print and cut out
- Sparky’s Home Heating Safety Checklist and Mad Lib from the NFPA
- Holiday Safety Word Search from classhelper.org
Printables for Adults:
- Easy to Read Heating Safety Tips and Quiz appropriate for adult literacy tutoring, also in Spanish.
- Pocket Guide to Safe and Age Appropriate Toys from Safe Kids Worldwide
- Our Family’s Health and Contact Information and Let’s Get Ready: Planning Together for Emergencies magazine from Sesame Street
- T’was the Night for Fire Safety poem, author unkown
- Holiday Safety Decoration Tips from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Winter Storm Safety Checklist from the American Red Cross
- Emergency Contact Card from the American Red Cross
Featured Resources
Books
- Holiday and Home Safety Books for Children
- Drunk Driving Messages for Teens: Fiction and Non-Fiction
- Holiday and Winter Safety Novels for Adults
Reliable Online Information:
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Holiday Safety Tips for Pet Owners
- Children’s Hospital of Michigan’s Poison Control Center Holiday Hazards
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Winter Storms and Extreme Cold
- National Fire Prevention Administration (NFPA) Christmas Tree Safety
- NFPA, Fire Analysis and Research Division Home Christmas Tree and Holiday Light Fires, November 2010 - a report with statistics, graphs, and charts
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – National Weather Service (NOAA-NWS) Winter Storms the Deceptive Killers
- Safe Kids USA Toy Safety Fact Sheet
- Saskatchewan Prevention Institute Holiday Safety, Cold Winter Temperatures: Children are at Risk and Winter Safety fact sheets
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Toy Hazard Recalls list by date
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Consumer Products Related Statistics (includes toys)
- U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) Holiday Fire Safety and Winter Storm Fire Safety,
- U.S. Fire Administration Statistical Reports – Holiday and Seasonal Fires
Book Club
Discuss holiday and winter safety this month by choosing one of these interesting book for your December book club.
Non-Fiction: The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin (HarperCollins, 2004)
From the publisher: “On the morning of January 12, 1888, a snow storm of unprecedented ferocity and suddenness swept down on the American prairie. One moment the air was clear and mild, the next a blinding wall of ice dust engulfed the landscape in an instantaneous white-out. Thousands were caught out on the prairie without protection. Children on their way home from one-room prairie schools, farmers taking care of their livestock, families doing errands in towns — all were overtaken by this terrible storm. But the blizzard itself was just the beginning of their peril. In the wake of the front that propelled the storm, some of the coldest air ever recorded spread over the region. As darkness fell, temperatures from Montana to Kansas plunged to double digits below zero. When the sun rose on the glittering windless morning of January 13, hundreds lay frozen to death on the open prairie — many of them children.”
- About the Author
- Browse Inside the book
- Reading Guide from HarperCollins
- Background Information, including links to historical NOAA weather maps, from the Weather Doctor
- “Freak, Deadly Storm: Children’s Blizzard of 1888″Washington Post, January 14, 2011
- Author Interview
- Winter Storm Safety Checklist from the American Red Cross
Fiction: Ice Cold: a Rizzoli and Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (Random House, 2010)
From the publisher: “A spur-of-the-moment ski trip becomes a bone-chilling nightmare when a wrong turn leaves Boston medical examiner Maura Isles marooned—far from home and help—in the snowbound Wyoming mountains. Seeking shelter from the cold, she and her traveling companions stumble upon Kingdom Come—a remote village of identical houses that seems to have become a ghost town overnight. But the abandoned hamlet has dark secrets to tell, and Maura’s party may not be as alone as they think. Days later, word reaches Boston homicide cop Jane Rizzoli that Maura’s charred remains have been found at the scene of a car crash. But the shocking news leaves Jane with too many questions, and only one way to get answers. Determined to dig up the truth, she heads for the frozen desolation of Kingdom Come, where gruesome discoveries lie buried, and a ruthless enemy watches and waits.”
Tie In
Story Time:
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Use this classic 1963 Caldecott Award-winning classic to start a conversation about winter weather safety.
- Author website http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org
- Read the book online at Penguin books
- American Sign Language Translation – word for word – of The Snowy Day
- Printable activities – vocabulary word search, crossword puzzle, fill in the blank activities, true / false questions and more
- Sequence Cards
- Activities – making predictions and gross motor skills - from Kinderthemes
- Activities – collages, listening and dancing activities and more from Judith Spitzberg
Community Resources
Find a local agency to partner with, a speaker, or other local resources here:
- Blood donations decrease during the busy holiday season, but the need remains the same. Partner with your local chapter of the Red Cross to schedule a holiday blood drive at your library.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) in your state or territory
Publicity Resources
Use these free resources from the U.S. Fire Administration alongside your library’s November programming information – newsletter, blog, posters, or fliers – to promote both your library’s programs and Holiday Fire Safety.
- Winter Fire Safety Web Ads
- “Keep Your Holidays from Going up in Flames” News Release to customize
- Talking Points to Twitter or add to your library newsletter
- Holiday Fire Safety Poster with sidebar to customize
- Heating Safety Print Ads to add to your library’s newsletter or website
- Reproducible Holiday Safety Tip Sheets
Fun Stuff
Add some interesting and helpful interactive links to a library program, your library website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed:
For Children:
- Sparky the Fire Dog online games and other activities
- Free Online Winter Games from PrimaryGames
- Winter Storm Interactive Timeline from Scholastic
- Winter Safety Quiz from injuryprevention.ca
Interactive Tools:
Quizzes
- Alcohol Quiz from AAA Insurance
- How Likely are You to Be Caught Drinking and Driving? from In the Scene Limousine
Videos
- Christmas Tree Fire Safety from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Dry Tree vs. Properly Maintained Christmas Tree Fire from the USFA
- Turkey Deep Fryer Hazards from Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
