The story of Smartie the penguin has long been a popular way of educating young children about how to stay safe online and reinforce the message for children to tell an adult if anything worries them online.
The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin is an interactive story offering children the chance to decide what Smartie should do next as he explores the Internet and plays his favourite online games. Like most children, Smartie loves to play on his tablet but along the way he finds the Internet tricky to navigate. For example a picture pops up on his screen, it’s colourful and Smartie doesn’t know what to do. The story allows children the opportunity to discuss with an adult what might happen and why it is important to ask for help. To help children remember this there is a catchy tune!
“Before you tap and click…
You need to stop and think…
And TELL someone!”
Childnet has always been proud to offer an online version of our much loved story for schools and parents to use and we are excited to announce its update. From September we will be continuing to offer our online version along with an exclusive education team story which covers a further 3 online issues. This way teachers will be able to deliver the story whilst also benefitting from our education team’s knowledge and experience.
Our new online version has been adapted for early years, year 1 and year 2 to ensure the children are able to access and understand the key messages. As ever there is an accompanying lesson plan, guidance and resources to allow parents and teachers to really develop their children’s understanding. Our new online version covers 3 main issues; pop ups/ in app purchases, websites suitable for older children and cyber bullying. We have also created a ‘time to chat’ resource which outlines the questions to ask throughout the story and gives guidance on how to respond to the children’s answers. You can view our new online version of Smartie the penguin here and watch a video of Smartie in action.
Our new exclusive education team version will then explore a further 3 issues; upsetting/ worrying online content you might stumble across, whether or not information is always true online and contact from strangers/ personal information. You can book a visit to your school from our education team here.
We hope schools and parents continue to enjoy using our Smartie the Penguin story.
If you enjoyed our Smartie the Penguin story then check out Digiduck; a story about being a good online friend, suitable for children aged 3-7.
