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Clowns For Pub. ED.
My department has a strong Fire Pup program, wich I have been put in charge of. It's a good program but I wanted to do something a little more interactive. So, I tried being a clown for a recent Pub Ed event and it was a hit. So now I would like to get more info on it. If your department has clowns for pub ed I would like to know how they got started. Anything would be a help. Thanks and stay safe!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kirk D. Baughman on
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great ideal let me know if you come up with any thing. so what kind of ideals are you looking for?
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Permalink Reply by Scott Baublitz on
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I have been told that some departments have a group of guys that do it. In my town one of the depts here had a clown brig. However being a paid dept it got cut. I got some help from them. I was just wondering how any other departments do Pub Ed with clowns. Did they read up on it, if so, what did they read and where did they find it? Also, what kind of skits do they do? Do they do parades? I was kinda hoping that more people would comment on this.
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Permalink Reply by Anita King on
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Scott, the Virginia Beach Fire Dept. has a guy that does a lot of pub ed as a clown. He has great success with his program. I am sure that you could get info on their website. He is a great guy and I am sure he would love to help you out. If you will send me a message on my page, I will give you his name and email.
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Permalink Reply by ashfire on
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Our county has one that I know of. Hector The Fire Safety Clown. He has a firefighter's outfit and makes his make-up look like a firefighter that has been fighting a fire so it has that smoking look.
He has created many props for his shows and kids programs. He has a van he fixed up for parades with signs and paint job and sound system. He has also walked in parades demoing smoke detecters to the crowd. He even had a dog as part of his show. He would have the dog run into a house prop and pull dolls out has rescued people.
Now over the years there have been different clowns and a clown club in the fire service that would be in parades.
One I can remember was Tater who would throw a bat into the air and catch it while marching.
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Here's a few sites to check for Hector.
http://www.laurelvfd.org
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Thanks for the help. I already have the program "off the ground". I am just trying to better it.
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Permalink Reply by Kraig Stovall on
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Scott,
Our clowns, we have two, attended the characterization camp put on by the AFBEA in Bullhead City, AZ. Their website is www.afbea.org. They learned a lot about the process of clowning there, including selecting their character. We now have "Bunker" and "Chief Chuckles", and their impact in the fire safety education mission has been invaluable - both with kids and adults as well. You may want to check into this camp if you are thinking of beginning a clowning program at your department. If you want to talk with one of our guys, let me know, and I will put you in contact with them.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Clowns are funny, slapstick and can make learning fun, but is that really the best approach to teaching the importance of fire education? Imagine a parent, or principal, trying to get a serious point across dressed up as a clown. I think the impact would be lost. Having a group of friendly firemen in their classroom, explaining (in age appropriate language) what they do, how they do it and what they wear conveys the seriousness of the lesson(s).
I used to do education and I'm comfortable in a classroom and can modify my approach to be age appropriate, and while I make the kids comfortable and engage them, I've presented the material to them that, while not frightening them makes them aware of the dangers and seriousness of fire. I personally can't see how a clown would be anywhere nearly as effective.
I guess the bigger question is: What message are you getting across by using a clown?
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Permalink Reply by Richard Armstrong on
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Another thing you could tie into this is here we have kids from the 3 local kids schools do a poster contest and they pick a winner from each age group at each school and we bring them to the hall and cook them breakfast in the morning and then give them a ride to school in a firetruck.You could have your clown go to the school and tell the winning children that they get to come for breakfast and have them do a little education skit while they are eating breakfast.
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jack you are right.We have went to schools and we have guys dress in gear and SCBA's to get them used to what it looks like and sounds like cause kids could actually get even more scared if they seen us wearing our gear.If we were there to recue them they are already petrified in the situation seeing that may make things worse.What we always did was put together little skits and pulled kids from the audience to participate.But like you said the key to the whole thing is you really have to present it in terms that the age group you are teaching can grasp what you are trying to tell them.
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Permalink Reply by Capt./Chaplain Mike Petrosky on
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Jack, you make some valid points here. But, I think somehow you can have a balanced public education program by having both. Some people can't get up in front of other people and speak well in public, while others can. Some are naturals at goofing off and might pull off the "Stop, Drop, and Roll" better as a clown. Going into schools and doing age and grade school level appropriate teaching is great and is needed, but we can't be serious all the time, can we?
I think that if you teach the kids the important, must know stuff at school or at a scheduled class tour at the station-awesome. But why not throw in some well-mannered fun learning from "Patches" or "Ashes"? Not all kids learn the same way. There may be those 1 or 2 kids that really grasp the message by seeing a FF dressed up as a clown clowning" around.
I was on a fire dept. and I was helping with the fire explorers, we decided to make the "Klown Klub" for the up coming parade. We got ahold of some old bunkers, hose, a canvas folding cot and had some fun. We bought some kids toys-stethoscope,etc out of a dr.'s kit. We had one FF follow the fire truck and fall down in the middle of the road and the rest of the clowns rescue him, taking vitals ( all wrong of course ), and the clowns pulled out the cot and loaded the other clown on it and lifted the sick clown, well, the sick clown stayed on the road cause there was a hole cut lengthwise down the cot-making it look like they left him behind !! It was fun, the people at the parade loved it and we even got fan mail at the fire hall asking for us to come back next parade ! You dont have to spend alot of money on stuff, just make up little short fire safety skits. Good luck !
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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Some area departments have helped each other start clowning groups. Many have gone to clowning classes at a local community college. Great stuff.
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