Emergency plan for kids: including children in your family plan

Quick checklist

Why an emergency plan for kids should feel like a game

Children copy the adults around them. If you sound calm, they learn that a plan is normal and manageable. Keep each practice to a few minutes, praise what they get right, and stop before they get bored.

Skip scary stories and pictures. You do not need to explain what could go wrong. "What would we do if the lights went out?" is enough. The Be Ready campaign encourages households, including families with young children, to talk through a plan together, and our household emergency plan guide shows how to start.

Little ones (about 3 to 6)

Keep it to a few simple jobs.

• Name and number. Turn it into a song or a rhyme. Practise their first and last name and the name of the road they live on.
• A grown-up's number. Most small children cannot hold a full phone number yet. Put it on a card and teach them to show it to a trusted adult, such as a teacher, a police officer or a shop assistant.
• One safe job. In a power cut, their job is to stay with you and hold the torch. In a smoke alarm game, it is to walk to the door and stand with you.
• A hug rule. If they are lost, they stay where they are and look for a grown-up in uniform or behind a till.

Primary age (about 7 to 11)

Children this age can learn more and enjoy being trusted.

• Full details. They learn their full name, address, postcode and at least one parent's mobile number by heart, plus the card as a back-up.
• The 999 call. Explain in a calm way that 999 is for when someone is in danger, and that they tell the call handler their address. Practise with a toy phone, never a real call.
• Know the house. They learn where the torch lives, where the family meeting place outside is, and which door to use.
• Small responsibilities. Let them tick off a family checklist on the fridge, or fill in a contact card for a grandparent.

Teenagers

Teenagers can share the planning. Ask what they would add. They usually carry a phone, so make sure of the following.

• Their phone has your numbers and one trusted adult outside the household saved under "ICE" or a clear name.
• The numbers are also on a card or in a small notebook in their bag, because phones run flat.
• They know the family meeting places and the plan if the mobile network is down.
• They know how to reach you at work and what the plan is if you are late.

Our family emergency communication plan has a longer structure you can work through together, and our offline emergency contact list gives a printable layout.

Three things to practise

Keep each scenario to five minutes and run it once a season.

1. A smoke alarm sounding. Press the test button together once a month, as Be Ready advises, so the sound is familiar. Practise the same steps each time: get out, stay out, call 999 from outside. Never go back for toys or pets. Young children must never touch matches, lighters, candles or the cooker, and you should say so plainly.

2. A power cut. Switch the lights off in daylight and let your child find the torch. Talk about sitting together and playing a board game. Call 105 if it is a real power cut. If heating or cooking is affected, remind everyone that camping stoves, gas heaters, BBQs and generators must stay outside and away from the house. A working carbon monoxide alarm gives an early warning, but it is not a reason to bring them indoors.

3. Getting separated. Choose a meeting place at home, one near school, and one for out and about, such as an information desk or the shop till. Practise "stay put and find a helper".

School pickup plans

Ask your child's school for its emergency procedure. Schools differ, and what they tell you should guide your plan. Ask who can collect your child, how the school contacts parents, and what happens if the roads or phone lines are busy. Add a trusted backup adult to the school's list, and tell your child who that person is. Write the answers on your family plan.

A small comfort kit

Each child can have a small bag with a soft toy or favourite object, a book or a pack of cards, a snack they like, a water bottle, a spare pair of socks and their contact card. Letting them pack it themselves helps them feel in charge. A head torch with an adjustable beam (Retailer link coming soon) can be a favourite item, used with an adult close by.

Keep it all in one place

A printed plan on the fridge helps everyone. A dry-erase planning board (Retailer link coming soon) lets you update meeting places and numbers, and a family emergency plan binder (Retailer link coming soon) keeps the paper copies together. Cards for each child's bag are available as family emergency contact cards (Retailer link coming soon), or you can write them by hand.

Do this today (free)

1. At tea, ask each child to say their full name, address and your mobile number.
2. Write that on an index card for each school bag.
3. Pick a meeting place outside the house.
4. Test your smoke alarm together.

If you have £10, £25 or £50

These are budgets, not quotes. Check the current price first.

• About £10: a pack of contact cards and a small torch.
• About £25: add a planning board for the fridge.
• About £50: add a binder and a head torch for each child.

Sources and further reading

• Be ready for emergencies: checklist and household plan
• Be Ready campaign (GOV.UK)
• NHS