Plan a firehouse relay game to get a taste of the quick manner in which firefighters get ready for a fire run. Before the game, gather heavy coats, two pairs of pull-on boots and plastic fire helmets. Any heavy coat or boots will do for the game. You can find plastic helmets in the toy section of a department store. Divide the children into two teams. Place a set of gear in front of the first child in line on each team. When you ring a bell, the children in the front of each line must put on the boots, coat and hat and run to the wall at the opposite end of the room. When the kids reach the wall, they must pretend to squirt water from a hose onto a fire while counting to ten, then run back and take off the gear. The next child dons the gear and repeats the relay. Continue until one team's kids have all run the relay in the gear. The first team done wins.
Make a counting game from numbered paper "firehouses" and black dot stickers. Cut the top corners from 10, 9-inch by 12-inch sheets of red construction paper to resemble the roofs of the firehouses. Write the word, "firehouse," across the top of each paper. Write individual numbers, 1 through 10, beneath the words on each paper. Place the corresponding number of black stickers, domino-style, under the numbers on each firehouse. To play, lay the firehouses in a row on a table. Provide kids with three or four choices of small objects - die-cast fire trucks, toy dalmatians or plastic firefighters - to count out and place on the dots. Let children work in pairs to count and place objects. Time each pair to determine a winner.
Paint a cardboard appliance box red. After the box is dry, cut a 10-inch diameter hole in the front of the box. Let kids decorate the box to resemble a firehouse. Give youngsters markers, construction paper and scissors. Encourage them cut and glue paper windows, a firehouse dog and the firehouse number to the box. Give kids five red beanbag "firetrucks" to toss into the firehouse. Assign five points per beanbag-firetruck that each child successfully parks, by tossing it in the firehouse. When a child reaches 20 points, he wins the game.
Seat a group of children in a circle for a memory game to recall a list of things found in a firehouse. Before the game, discuss with children things that are found in the firehouse. Talk about the fire pole, fire trucks and fire helmets. Remind children that beds, tables and chairs are also found there. Begin the game. Say, "These are the things in the firehouse." Add a firehouse word after the phrase. If you say, "firefighter," the child to your right continues the game saying, "These are the things in the firehouse: firefighter," then adds, "fire trucks." Play continues as each subsequent child adds a firehouse word to the string of words that came before. If a child forgets a word on her turn, start the game over.