How can I introduce online safety education to under 11s?
It is never too early to learn about online safety as a family or in the classroom.
Online safety awareness is a key skill that we want children and young people to develop.
From digital resilience, to balancing screentime, to thinking before clicking – there are many skills involved in online safety education that young people can develop, especially as they grow to use the internet independently.
Here is how the UK Safer Internet Centre’s Primary Zone can help you start a conversation with your child and introduce online safety education for children and young people aged 3-11.
The Adventures of Kara, Winston and the SMART Crew
For ages: 7-11
Our SMART resources are there to provide families, professionals and young people with a memorable strategy to learn and revise five key pillars of online safety.
To aid with the learning of the SMART rules, Childnet have five amazing cartoons for 7-11 year olds.
Follow the Adventures of Kara, Winston and the SMART Crew as they make safe online decisions!
In addition, our SMART video lessons are for families to use a home, and can even be adapted for educators and professionals.
The six easy-to-follow videos are for adults to watch together with children aged 6-9.
For ages: 3-7
There are five stories in the Digiduck series to introduce the basics of online safety to children aged 3-7. These books cover topics such as being a good friend online; the reliability of information; online gaming and positive uses of the internet.
The collection includes free PDFs and eBooks of the stories, as well as posters and teaching activities.
Learning to read book
For ages: 4 and above
“On the internet” is a learning-to-read book for children aged 4 and above.
There are also puzzles at the end of the story to make the experience as interactive as possible!
ProjectEVOLVE
For the classroom, ProjectEVOLVE is the free digital literacy toolkit from UKSIC that supports children and young people with their online development. Bring online safety discussion into school using engaging and fun activities that start conversations around self-image and identity, privacy and security, online bullying, online reputation and online relationships. Resources are available from early years right up to 18.
Head to our Primary Zone for more resources and projects yourself and your child can get involved with, from Smartie the Penguin ebook to the Childnet Film Competition!