Teaching health and safety to preschoolers requires balancing information that is important against information a preschooler can understand. Taught properly, preschoolers can understand and apply a surprising amount of information.
Hygiene
Subjects to cover under hygiene health include the importance of washing hands, brushing teeth and regular baths.
Disease Prevention
Preschoolers can understand why they need to cover the mouth and nose when sneezing and coughing, as well as the basics of body fluid safety.
Basic Nutrition
Even the food pyramid is a bit complex at this level, but simple rules such as "eat vegetables with every meal" and "snack on fruit, not cookies" are appropriate.
Basic Fitness
Many preschoolers haven't developed the motor skills for jumping, skipping or push-ups. Instead focus on how fun it is to be active and play games with a strong exercise component.
Stranger Safety
Though not psychologically ready for the graphic risks of stranger abduction, preschoolers can learn which strangers are safe to approach if lost in public. This lesson should also include helping the child memorize parents' full names and, if possible, phone numbers.
Good Touch/Bad Touch
Even preschoolers are old enough to learn to report adults who touch or ask to be touched in the "bathing suit area(s)."
Tags: