WEEKEND EDITION
Feb. 28 - 29, 2004
The Great Safety Adventure will hold five Saturday events, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free and open to the public.
Today: Lowe's of Henderson, 9955 S. Eastern Ave.
March 6: Lowe's of Las Vegas, 5050 S. Fort Apache Road.
March 13: Lowe's of Henderson, 440 Marks St.
March 20: Lowe's of Las Vegas, 7550 W. Washington Ave.
March 27: Lowe's of Las Vegas, 4625 W. Charleston Blvd.
Local elementary school students are experiencing a new way to learn about home safety through the Home Safety Council's Traveling Through Education exhibit.
The Great Safety Adventure is a nonprofit, interactive exhibit that teaches students in kindergarten through fourth grade about home safety.
The exhibit, which travels around the country, made its stop in North Las Vegas on Thursday, at Raul Elizondo Elementary School, near Lone Mountain Road and North Fifth Street.
This is the first time The Great Safety Adventure has visited the Las Vegas and Henderson areas since its launch in 1999.
The Home Safety Council will run its program throughout the area for the next five weeks to educate Las Vegas-area children and their parents on how to avoid home injuries.
Few parents are aware of the potential dangers that can occur under their own roofs, according to the Home Safety Council.
Unintentional injuries within the home account for more than 20 million medical visits each year, it said.
At 8 a.m. Thursday, two semi-tractor trucks pulled into the parking lot of Raul Elizondo Elementary School, unfolding to create a replica of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and back yard.
Inside the replica home, children became "safety rangers" as they joined a quest with tour guides and Rover, the Great Safety Adventure's Home Safety Hound, to search the house and locate common safety hazards.
The Great Safety Adventure concentrates on four safety risk areas -- fire and burns, poisoning, choking and suffocation, and slips and falls, said spokesman Mike Crimm, who works as a tour guide for the program.
The program begins in the first trailer, with a tutorial about home safety hazards and what to look out for.
The students are then given flashlights and taught to use them to point out safety hazards around the replica home.
Each time a safety hazard is identified, children are prompted to say "Code Red Rover, grown-up come over,'" reinforcing the importance of involving an adult in correcting home hazards, Crimm said.
Students then tour the second trailer, which serves as the replica home.
A rainbow-colored trail with arrows directs the students from one "room" to another.
The first stop is a kitchen, featuring a sink, lower cabinets, an oven and a stove.
Toys are propped directly in front of the oven, while the lower cabinet sits open, revealing a variety of poisonous cleaners.
A hot pot sits on the front burner of the stove with its handle facing outward.
"Children take their flashlights and point them on the toys, the cleaners and the pot," Crimm said.
Crimm praises the children and pushes a hidden button, prompting the animated kitchen to "fix the safety hazards" electronically.
The pot automatically slides to the back burner, turning its handle inward. The cabinet door shuts and the toys move away from the oven.
Next the children sit down to watch a short movie about back yard safety that covers the dangers of lawn mowers, barbecue grills, fertilizers, ladders and power tools.
Around the corner students learn about bathroom safety.
Students point their flashlights at an open medicine cabinet, exposing several pills and medications, as well as a few pill containers sitting on the counter.
Others point out a hair dryer plugged in next to the bathtub and a bathroom rug that is crumpled up.
With the click of a button, the bathroom fixes its hazards.
In the living room, students learn the importance of having working smoke alarms in their homes and are also taught to design and practice a fire escape plan with their families.
Without warning a smoke alarm sounds and smoke begins to fill the hallway outside Rover's bedroom.
Having just learned "Rover's fire escape plan," the children immediately drop to the floor and crawl through the smoke-filled hallway to safety outside.
"The kids love the fire drill," Crimm said. "They have fun with it and it teaches them about important safety hazards at the same time."
Once outside the house, students are provided with a folder, which includes stickers and activities to learn about home safety.
"The kids can go over this with their parents," Crimm said.
A "Fire Escape Plan Worksheet" is also included in the back of the folder.
Students are told to sit with their family and draw a floor plan of their home, marking all windows and doors.
Tips such as showing two ways out of each room and agreeing on an outside meeting place are also featured.
During the next five weeks, the Great Safety Adventure will visit nine elementary schools and hold five Saturday events. The Saturday tours are free and open to the public.
The Great Safety Adventure is sponsored by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse and has a website, coderedrover.org.
On the site, children and parents will find home safety tips, interactive games, tour information and other safety links.
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