To help schools, youth groups, police services, libraries, and wider run fun and engaging activities for Safer Internet Day we have created a range of resources for those working with children and young people, including tailored resources for those working with 3-7 year olds.
In this blog we take a closer look at some of these resources.
What age group is this resource designed for?
These resources have been tailor-made for educators and other professionals to deliver with young people aged 3-7 years old. The resources consist of an adaptable lesson with accompanying slides, an activity menu of shorter activities, and an assembly.
Why is the topic of reliability online important for 3-7 year olds?
Understanding reliability online and recognising what you can and cannot trust is important for everyone, regardless of their age, to enjoy the internet safely and positively. However, for 3-7 year olds, we must recognise that their knowledge, skills, and experience levels are still in the very early stages of development. Therefore, all activities have been designed to introduce the theme of reliability online, to help learners begin to ask questions and understand that not everything can be taken at face value.
What are the key learning aims and objectives in this resource?
After using these resources, learners will understand that the internet can be used to find out information. They will know that because not everything online is ‘fact,’ this information should be checked in a variety of ways, to make sure it can be trusted, and will be able to list different ways of doing this. Learners will be encouraged to give their own examples of what is fact, untrue, and opinions – to demonstrate their understanding. They will also be encouraged to think about the adults they can ask for help when they are not sure if something online is trustworthy.
How can teachers and educators use this resource?
All the educational materials created for Safer Internet Day 2021 have been designed to be easy to use and adaptable to a range of audiences, settings and needs. For this pack, educators will begin by using the assembly, and reading the story, ‘Detective Digiduck.’ In the story, Digiduck comes to realise that not all information online is reliable and, with the help of Wise_Owl, he learns different ways to check if what he’s found is fact, untrue or opinion. This story forms the basis of the whole pack, and all the activities within the lesson plan. In addition to this, there is a menu of quick activities that can be used depending on how much time is available. The pack is flexible enough to suit the needs and abilities of all children within this age range, and provides enough activities to do across the week, or revisit at a later date.
What is a key activity educators should look for?
Fact Detectives!
This activity gives learners a chance to do their own research online, assisted by an adult. Using the template provided, the children choose an animal and write one fact about it, and something that is untrue. Once every child has completed their two sentences, all print outs are compiled, and learners will work as a group to sort the statements into true or false. For children who are slightly older, the activity could be extended to include an opinion about their chosen animal too, to add a new element to the activity. Alternatively, learners could be encouraged to make it trickier for their peers by making the ‘untrue’ sentence more plausible, to make it harder to identify those that are true and false.
