Love to Laugh and Learn

Fun and interesting learning activities to do with the children in your life

Police Officers: Love to Learn About Community Helpers

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Police Officers: Love to Learn About Community Helpers
with free printables




It’s time to have fun learning about police officers. Police officers are there to protect and take care of us. Children need to learn this early because you never know when they might need a police officer’s help.

I like to start learning activities with a book. You can find several books about police officers in the Story Time section, below. Pick a couple out and share them with your child.

Content:

Playtime
Fun Sheet
Craft
Story Time
Related Posts
Acknowledgements

Playtime

There are many wonderful toys out there that can encourage imaginative play, while learning about police officers. Lego and Playmobil both have police themed sets. Your child might have a simple police car that they like to play with. We used to have a community helper doll set that we used in our preschool classes. I plan to get some for my home so my grandson and great-nephew will have them to play with.

I love the use of dress-up clothes. When I was teaching preschool, the boys loved to dress-up as much as the girls did. I pick up inexpensive costumes once Halloween is over. I picked up a play set with handcuffs, a walkie talkie and a toy gun at the Dollar Tree. You can read my post, “Let’s Play with Toy Guns”, to see why I believe that was a good addition to our dress-up bin.

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Fun Sheet

Police Officer Fun Sheet - Help the officer find the equipment she needs to do her job.
Police Officer Fun Sheet – Help the officer find the equipment she needs to do her job.

I have created a fun sheet to do with your child. Have your child color the police officer and then color only the items that the police officer would use. Don’t color the items that the police officer would not use. Click on the picture to get the downloadable fun sheet.

The fun sheet is a great way for your child to develop their fine motor skills, as they color. They will learn to follow directions and will also reinforce what they have learned about police officers.

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Craft

Police Car Craft

Learn About Police Officers using this free printable.

Materials Needed

Police Car template
markers, crayons or paints

Instructions

  1. Print the police car template.
  2. Do a Google search for your local police cars. (We have several different styles here in Indianapolis)
  3. Let your child color or paint the police car to match their favorite one. My favorite police cars are the black and white ones.
Police Car Craft – Do a Google search for your local police cars. Then let your child color or paint the police car to match their favorite one. There is a free printable included in this post.

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Story Time

A Day in the Life of a Police Officer (Kids’ Career Library) by Mary Bowman-Kruhm and Claudine G. Wirths
Reading Level: Ages 5 and up
If your child is looking for a little more information about police officers and not just a simple introduction, this would be the book to go to. This book explains the responsibilities of police officers and the equipment they need but with a little more detail than some of the other books. If you have an inquisitive child that loves to sit and listen, I would recommend this book.

A Day with Police Officers by Jan Kottke
Reading Level: Ages 2 – 6 yrs old
This is a great book to introduce your little one to the responsibilities of police officers. It has very simple text but covers the basic information your child will need. The illustrations are actual pictures of police officers on the job. On another note, I was surprised when I picked up this book at the library. It came in a plastic bag with some paperwork and a DVD. I thought it was a movie of the book but that’s not what it was as all. It was actually a video of someone using American Sign Language to share the book with deaf children. It turns out there is an organization called The Shared Reading Project. The video is to help parents be able to effectively share books with their deaf child so they can become lifelong readers. You can search your library’s website for The Shared Reading Project and you will find several titles to choose from.

I’m Going to Be a Police Officer by Edith Kunhardt
Reading Level: Ages 4 and up
This story is about a little girl and boy whose daddy is a police officer. They get to go to work with him one day and they share all the things that their daddy does on the job. You will see some of the tools he uses and the many different aspects of his job. The illustrations are actual photographs of the police officer at work and with his family. This is a fun way to learn about police officers.

Police Officer (Benchmark Rebus: Jobs in Town) by Dana Meachen Rau
Reading Level: 3 – 6 yrs old
I love the books by Dana Meachen Rau that are put out by Benchmark Rebus. They are so simple and easy to understand. I like the fact that they use pictures instead of words as part of the text. It will make your little one proud that they are helping with the story. In this book we learn about the many things that police officers do and the equipment they use. This is a very cute book to introduce the job of police officers to your child.

Police Officers Help (Our Community Helpers) by Dee Ready
Reading Level: Ages 4 and up
This is a great book to introduce your child to the responsibilities of a police officer. The illustrations are actual pictures of police officers doing their many jobs. The text is simple; just a few clear sentences to each illustration. Once you share this book with your child, they will have a better understanding of what police officers do and the things they need to perform their jobs.

Police Officers, A to Z (Community Helpers (Walker) by Jean Johnson
Reading Level: Ages 5 to 8 yrs old
Every letter of the alphabet represents something a police officer uses or does. There are a lot of wonderful pictures of police officers at work. The illustrations are in black and white but they are still very interesting. There is quite a bit of information about police officers including an extra section in the back called “More About Police Officers”. I would recommend this book whether learning about police officers or just wanting to reinforce alphabet recognition.

We Need Police Officers (Helpers in Our Community) by Lola M. Schaefer
Reading Level: Ages 3 and up
This is a simple little book that makes a great introduction to police officers. There is just one sentence per page. Each page shows a picture and explains something about police officers. You get information about the jobs they do and the things they need to carry out their work.

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Related Posts

Community Helpers – Overview
Doctors: Love to Learn About Community Helpers
Dentists: Love to Learn About Community Helpers
Firefighters: Love to Learn About Community Helpers

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Acknowledgements

Cara's Clips Credit Button
Some of the images for the Fun Sheet were created by Cara’s Clips
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Cara-Taylor-8656

Charlotte's Clips and Kindergarten Kids

Some of the images for the Fun Sheet were created by Charlotte’s Clips
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Charlottes-Clips-4150

Polliwog Place

Images for Doctor’s Bag Craft and part of Fun Sheet created by Polliwog Place
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Polliwog-Place

whimsy-clips-by-laura-strickland-square
Some of the images for the Fun Sheet were created by Whimsy Clips
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Whimsy-Clips
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Let’s Play with Toy Guns

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Let’s Play with Toy Guns

I believe toy guns are getting a bad rap. I must say I hadn’t given it a lot of thought before but now I have a grandson and a couple of great-nephews, so an interest in guns is something we are going to have to deal with.

I raised two girls so guns were never a big subject around our house. We played with water guns and bubble blowing guns but that was about it. But when I was a little girl, I had a cap gun. I wore it in my holster as I strutted around in my cowgirl boots and hat. I loved playing with my cap gun when I was really young. As I got older, I was allowed to use our BB gun. I have always been fascinated with guns but I am definitely not a violent person. The first time I shot a bird, I cried. (We were trying to keep sparrows out of the purple martins’ birdhouse.) It only stunned him, so he eventually flew away but I didn’t shoot at any more birds.

Let's play with toy guns.
Let’s play with toy guns.

The idea of toy guns around the house hit me the other day because I was adding pieces to our dress-up clothes. I had purchased a soldier outfit and a police officer outfit. I was looking for a badge at the Dollar Tree when I ran across a package with a toy gun, a badge and a pretend walkie talkie. I hesitated because I have heard all the controversy about playing with guns and the possibility of instilling violence in our children, but are we missing a teaching opportunity?

My son-in-law serves in the army. Carrying a gun is part of his job. I have deep respect for all of the individuals serving in our armed forces. They carry guns to protect us and people in other countries. I believe that teaching our children how the military men and women are protecting us is a wonderful lesson. Yes, it is sad that there are wars but it is wonderful that there are people willing to put their lives on the line for others.

Then there are the police officers. They also carry guns as part of their jobs and put their lives on the line for others. Teaching respect for our police officers and learning about how they serve us are just a couple of lessons that can be incorporated into your child’s play with toy guns.

There are people that use guns to hunt for food. Wild game is healthy for you and is fairly cheap, in comparison to store bought meat. Many people around the world depend on hunting for their food. They don’t have or can’t afford to run to the grocery store to pick up something.

Lessons that can be slipped in while the children are playing with their toy guns:

  1.  Respect for our military and police.
  2.  Serving and protecting others.
  3.  Honoring our veterans.
  4.  Our Constitution and the 2nd Amendment.
  5.  How to properly handle a gun.
  6.  Where our food comes from.
  7.  The benefits of forgiveness and the consequences of revenge.

If we are worried about how our children will grow up and handle guns, shouldn’t we be talking with them about it, while they are young? Rather than avoiding or not allowing the opportunity for role playing and discussion, we should be giving them the opportunity to play and explore.

As children turn into young teens, many start playing violent video games or start sharing their interest of guns with their peers. Is this who and what you want to influence your child about the use of guns?

Some parents are worried that allowing their children to play with toy guns will create violent adults. According to an article on WebMD, titled Toy Guns: Do They Lead to Real-Life Violence?, “studies show no link between playing with toy weapons in childhood and aggression in adulthood”.

So let the kids play with their toy guns and let’s use the opportunity to instruct and raise more gun responsible teens and adults.

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