In focus: SID2018 Educational resources for 3-7 Year Olds

For Safer Internet Day 2018, the UK Safer Internet Centre has created educational resources for 3-18s, including resources tailored for 3-7 year olds.

Safer Internet Day 2018 will be celebrated globally on Tuesday 6th February 2018 with the slogan “Create, Connect and Share Respect: A better internet starts with you”.

The resources for 3-7 year olds aim to facilitate discussion with the youngest internet users, at a level which is age appropriate and reflects the diverse range of experiences they will have had online so far. Some children within this age range may be online without ‘knowing’ it i.e. watching their favourite cartoons or movies on services such as Amazon or Netflix, but will still spend the majority of their time offline. Others will be able to name specific games or websites that they frequent, and will have a deeper understanding of what being online means, through using a range of devices at home, or through having older siblings.

The learning outcomes within this pack therefore extensively cover life offline, as well as online, and focus on the children’s immediate family and friends, and familiar surroundings, in order to introduce the concepts that are being explored this Safer Internet Day – such as our connections, our emotions, our personal interests, and what it means to keep ourselves safe.  

The Education Pack for 3-7 year olds, and complementary SID TV film, provide a range of activities to help schools, youth groups and other settings get involved. These activities are practical, easy to organise, and transferrable to any educational setting – classroom or otherwise.

Activities include listening to this year’s SID story, “The 3 Little Monsters and the School Competition,” and recreating the activity that the monsters take part in; practical activities that look at the relationships we have with the important people in our lives by using wool or straws and paper plates to create a web of connections; sorting activities that identify situations where we must stay safe off and online; recording acts of kindness from our friends; hand and footprint activities to recognise the adults who help / care for us, and our favourite internet services; collecting favourite objects and talking about why they are special and asking questions about our friends’ interests; and a quiz for the older children to see how they react to different online scenarios, to name a few.

We have also created a guidance pack for the people delivering the Safer Internet Day messages in your school, youth group or other setting.

This gives further advice about how to mark Safer Internet Day and information about how to handle disclosures and sensitive topics, as well as how you can spread the word even further, including by contacting local press.

You can link up with the wider campaign taking place across the UK – and globally in over 130 countries – by joining the social media campaign and registering as an official supporter.

Simply complete our registration form to become an official supporter on our website and receive your supporter certificate.

Plus download our templates to make your pledges for the Safer Internet Day social media campaign #ItStartsWithUs.

Visit www.saferinternetday.org.uk for: