Safety Town is an educational facility located in Elmhurst, IL that provides preschool-age children with early safety education. We designed the town to teach children essential safety rules in an enjoyable way. The facility provides real-life lessons to children two to seven years old.
Miniature Town
Safety Town uses a miniature town to teach children about traffic safety, fire safety, water safety, and stranger danger staffed by certified police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who provide instruction and demonstrations. The town has a working fire station, hospital, and grocery store and features a restaurant where children can purchase food items from the menu.
The streets of Safety Town are named after common safety hazards, such as “Ladder Street,” “Fire Hydrant Lane,” and “Slide Way.” Crosswalks are painted on the roads that we use to cross streets safely. It also has a pedestrian-scale downtown area with stoplights, street signs, and building facades.
Featured Programs
They have several well-curated programs for children, families, and community organizations throughout the year. They offer sessions on different types of safety training, including CPR; they also offer the opportunity to participate in their summer camp.
When they are not hosting an event or full-day camp, they make Safety Town available to community members who want to host their events. These can be birthday parties, reunions, or meetings.
They have a car seat exhibit where they train parents to properly install safety seats for their children and equip them with the necessary tools to use in their cars.
They also hold educational programs like their School Bus Adventure, Family Safety Nights, and child ID programs. They maintain a close relationship with surrounding communities and work with local schools to provide the most up-to-date and accurate information.
Activities
While visiting Safety Town, children will learn life lessons by participating in various activities or events that may include:
- Wearing seat belts in a car
- Donning a firefighter’s coat and helmet before entering the firehouse to visit the fire pit
- Walking through a road of high grass where they are asked to look for items such as rocks or sticks that could be harmful if thrown
- Retrieving groceries from the grocery store (children can purchase small quantities of products like stickers and pencils)
- Observing a speed limit demonstration with a radar gun
It’s a no-brainer that we should teach children about safety at a young age to become better at recognizing threats to their safety. Safety town uses a hands-on approach that we believe is best to reach children. They are dedicated to providing families with valuable information about keeping their children safe.
Admission is free, but reservations are required. The town is located on the campus of Elmhurst College and is accessible by car or bus.