This is a fun game designed to teach children about safety issues. It can be played over and over again as much as you’d like, since each scenario can easily result in a 5 to 10 minute discussion. If done properly, you’ll have your kids rolling on the floor with laughter each time you play.

How to play the bad advice safety game:

Start by giving your children a scenario from the list below. Then have the kids in your group take turns trying to think up the worst advice they could give someone in this situation. Encourage them to get silly with it. For example, on the floating into the ocean scenario listed below, bad advice might include things like “Find a shark and give him a kiss” or “jump off the floatie and swim in circles.” Bad advice for the stranger scenario could be things like “jump in his arms and give the stranger a big smooch” or “ask him if he has candy too!”

After each child gives their advice, invite the other kids to think up reasons for why this is bad advice; i.e., what would happen. Finally, close the scenario by switching tactics and having a quick discussion on what would be good advice in that scenario.

Teacher tip: If you want to add another game-like element to this, you can divide your kids into two groups and award points based on the best (or rather, worst) advice they come up with, sort of like they do on the television show Whose Line is It Anyway?. There doesn’t need to be any rhyme or reason to it; you might give 1 point for a funny answer, 2 points for a really funny answer and 3 for a super funny answer. Or simply award points at random every time a child says something clever or gives a comment you like. Tally the points by each group and award a winner at the end.

Safety scenarios for the bad advice safety game

Below are some examples of different safety scenarios to use. Feel free to invent your own, and after kids have played a few times you might even invite them to think up their own scenarios to give the class.

1. You’re playing at a friend’s house when the two of you find a gun underneath a cushion.
2. You’re on a floaty in the ocean and suddenly you realize you’re being drawn out to sea.
3. You spot your baby sister climbing onto a shelf.
4. You drop a ball and it rolls into the street.
5. A stranger comes up to you and says he has free kittens to give away, and asks you to come to his car to pick one out.
6. You’re at the pool and you see someone under the water, but they aren’t swimming, they’re just floating there limp.
7. You see your little brother chewing on an electrical cord.
8. Your little sister reaches for a sharp knife.
9. You’re in your room when you hear the sound of your fire alarm go off.
10. You find this strange looking substance in the bottle that your mother left out.