Preschool Safety
In The Classroom

"Does our teacher make certain preschool safety is a top priority in her classroom?"

When dropping their child off at school, every parent wants to leave knowing that their child is safe. It is every parent’s worse nightmare to get the dreaded phone call telling them their child was just hurt. Thankfully, in this day and age, preschools and daycares are taking extra measures to ensure each child remains safe and unharmed while at school.

Obviously, no child can go through every day completely unscathed. There will be times where they will trip and scrape their knee or bump into a table and get a bruise. These are all normal incidents.

As teachers, there are several measures you can take to prevent these injuries. Enforcing classroom rules, room arrangement and constant supervision are three very important ways to avoid injury.


Every child benefits greatly from having classroom rules and routines. Not only does it teach them how to fit in to society, but rules and routines also keep the children safe. Many teachers have the obvious rules such as no hitting or hurting our friends, no running inside, etc. The key is to make sure these rules are enforced consistently.

Children need to learn how to express their feelings in a different way then in a physical way. As teachers, we need to make sure children know the words they can use to help them in a difficult situation. Otherwise, they will express their feelings through hitting, punching, kicking and biting.

Making sure children know that running inside can be dangerous is also important. Remind them to always use their walking feet so they will not trip and fall.


Room arrangement is another way to ensure preschool safety. When there are big obstacles that children need to get around in a high traffic area, many accidents can occur. If there are big pieces of furniture sticking out, tripping and bumping will happen frequently.

Teachers also need to clean up spills immediately. Having your art easel across the room from the sink, for example, is an accident waiting to happen. We teach children to be independent and to clean up after themselves. So when they want to clean off the paintbrushes or other art supplies, they will know to use the sink.

However, if the sink is quite a bit away, chances are great that there will be plenty of drips happening. This will then lead to slipping. Doing these little things to your room arrangement can go a long way to establishing preschool safety.

Also, while you are looking over your room arrangement, take the time to check out the toys and furniture. Check for broken pieces, jagged edges or anything else that could have the potential to harm children. Throw them away or get them fixed.

Obviously it can be almost impossible to constantly have your eyes on all your children all of the time. But there are ways to allow for continuous supervision. One way is to see if there are any “blind spots” in your room. Blind spots are places where children can hide. This is where having a good room arrangement would come in handy!


Another way of maintaining good supervision is to know how many children you have that day and to keep track of the comings and goings of all your children. A fun way to do this is to have each child sign in every morning. This is a great way for them to practice writing their name, plus now you know each child that is there that day.

Additionally, it would be a great idea to do a head count every hour or so. Find a time that works best for you. I found doing a role call before going outside and before coming back in was very beneficial. Always knowing what children are with you on a daily basis is crucial to preschool safety.

Continual supervision not only allows for you to know where all the children are and what they are doing, but it also allows you to anticipate when trouble arises. This can help you to step in when there is a conflict between children to avoid the hitting and kicking that is sure to follow an argument!

Regardless of all the preventative measures you can take, there will still be times when children will be hurt. Ensuring that all teachers are CPR and First Aid certified is incredibly important in every school and daycare.


Communication with the parents is crucial, too. You, as a teacher, need to document the incident as soon as possible. Typically, most centers have reports to fill out that the parents will receive when they pick up their child. However, if the injury is severe enough, a phone call should be placed immediately to the parents.

Yes, accidents happen. But there are several steps you can take to keep preschool safety a top priority. The fewer accidents that occur, the happier the children and the parents will be. And ultimately that can pave the way for more success and fun in school!