Growing up Safe and Prepared in "Our Town" with KiDiMu

Bainbridge Island, WA, November 7, 2014 (Newswire.com) - On Saturday, November 15, at 2 p.m., the Kids Discovery Museum (KiDiMu) will unveil new features dedicated to safety and emergency preparedness in its Our Town exhibit hall. Families will have a chance to try out new exhibit components and participate in interactive presentations by the Museum’s program partners: Bainbridge Island Fire Department (BIFD) and Bainbridge Island Police Department (BIPD), who will cover topics from fire safety and “stranger danger” rules to bike safety and more.

With the new features integrated into Our Town (the Museum’s kid-size version of the local community), children and their families will have an opportunity to practice in a familiar setting how to prepare for unexpected events in their daily life. They will use imaginative play and components such as a crosswalk and a traffic sign, dress-up costumes, books and puzzles to learn about safety rules through fun hands-on activities.

"We were excited to see this idea, born out of a two-person conversation, grow to become a true collaborative effort to support families with simple solutions and help educate our community to be a better prepared one. KiDiMu is grateful to all the partners who have helped design the program and agreed to share their expertise and resources with our visitors."

Susie Burdick, Executive Director

The new exhibit additions complement the recently launched Growing Up Safe and Prepared program series. Each month, KiDiMu partners with local specialists to present a new subject, from fire and water safety to natural disasters, kitchen safety, and more.

"The Bainbridge Island Fire Department is dedicated to prevention and education and recognizes that early learning is the key to fire safety. Parents play a crucial role in this process. By joining children in fire drills, emergency preparedness training or testing smoke alarms together, they help children learn and refresh their own knowledge as well," said Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter. "In a disaster, seconds count. Programs like “Growing Up Safe and Prepared,” for which we have partnered with KiDiMu, create a great opportunity for families to get to know become familiar with the basics of emergency preparedness,” he added.

The goal of Growing Up Safe and Prepared is to empower young children with tools they can use themselves in emergency situations and decrease the amount of stress the whole family finds itself under in such circumstances. The program and exhibit enhancements were made possible thanks to generosity of Bainbridge Community Foundation, Puget Sound Energy, Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island and support from many local volunteers.

“We were excited to see this idea, born out of a two-person conversation, grow to become a true collaborative effort to support families with simple solutions and help educate our community to be a better prepared one,” said executive director Susie Burdick. “KiDiMu is grateful to all the partners who have helped design the program and agreed to share their expertise and resources with our visitors,” she added.

The event on November 15 at 2 p.m. at KiDiMu – as all the monthly programs in the series - is free with admission or membership. The December topic will feature holiday safety and in January, the American Red Cross will present on natural disaster preparedness and how to build an emergency kit. Details about future events in the series may be found on the Museum’s website.

Interested speakers who would like to share their knowledge about emergency preparedness or other safety issues are encouraged to contact Kids Discovery Museum’s program director Lorri Brito at 206.855.4650.