ALEX AND CONNIE
HOME SAFETY PUPPETSHOW
FIREWORKS SAFETY SCRIPT
Alex and Connie were very excited. It was their favourite time of year. It was the time of year when leaves change colour from green to gold and red, when they can scrunch the leaves on the ground in their welly boots, and when Dad takes them to gather conkers.
Do you know what time of year it is? What’s your favourite time of year?
Autumn time was Alex and Connie’s favourite time of year for another reason….it was almost Hallowe’en.
What do you like to do at Hallowe’en? Do you like to trick or treat?
But Alex and Connie had a problem. It was just two days to Hallowe’en now and neither of them had any idea what they should dress up as.
“Ooh, I’m so confused. Sometimes I want to be a cat, and then I want to be a pop star and then I want to be a princess,” said Connie. “I just can’t decide!”
“Don’t be silly,” said Alex. “Pop stars and princesses aren’t scary. You have to be scary at hallowe’en. You have to dress up as a witch or a scary monster or a zombie or an alien or...”
“So what are you going to be, then?” asked Connie.
“Er…I’m not really sure either…”
So they thought and thought and looked through picture books for ideas and then Alex had an idea.
“I know! I would love to be a magician,” said Alex. “An evil magician who casts wicked spells!”
“An evil magician?” said Connie. “Wow! That’s a great idea. Now what can I be. Oh, I really need help. I can’t think!”
Do you have any ideas, boys and girls? What do you like to dress up as at Hallowe’en? What could Connie dress up as?
So, Connie decided to dress up as a witch. A really scary witch with a pointy hat and a pointy nose and warts and a green face.
What else might she need? A black cloak?
Woooo!! That sounds very scary!!
So, Connie took the dressing up box out of the cupboard and found a witches hat from the year before. It had green hair attached to it and it was as good as new. Perfect! Then Mum made her a broomstick with an old floorbrush and she found some old green make up to paint her face and hands. She found a black make up pencil to draw warts on her face and all she needed was a pointy nose. She was nearly all set for Hallowe’en.
But Alex was finding it very hard to make a costume to be an evil magician.
“Mum, please can we go to the shops. Please! I really need to find an evil magician’s costume and we don’t have anything in the dressing up box that can help me.”
“Oh, okay,” said Mum. “We’ll go into town and see what we can rustle up.”
They parked the car in the town centre and Alex and Connie held Mum’s hand as they walked to the shop.
Alex and Connie couldn’t believe their eyes! The shop was covered in cobwebs and pumpkins and there were costumes for everything, from werewolves to witches, monsters to magicians. There were so excited. Then Connie saw it – a perfect purple costume with moons and stars and it was just Alex’s size!
“Oh, Mum, look what Connie found! I love it. It’s perfect!”
As Mum was paying for the costume, Alex and Connie had another look around the shop. Alex found some monkey nuts and Connie found some sparklers. Connie loves sparklers.
“Sparklers! Please Mum?” she said. “Since Alex got his costume, please can I get these for Hallowe’en?”
Mum wasn’t so sure.
“Mmm, I don’t think so,” she said. “Sparklers look pretty and they twinkle in the dark but sparklers are very, very dangerous and very, very hot.”
Connie was sad. How could a lovely sparkler be dangerous? She thought mum was being unfair so she began to sulk.
“It’s not fair. Alex got a costume and I didn’t get anything.”
Mum felt sorry for Connie and she gave a big sigh.
“Well, I’ll get some sparklers if you promise me one thing,” she said. “That you never, ever touch them. I will light it and hold it but sparklers are too dangerous for little children.”
“Okay,” said Connie. “I promise.” And she gave her Mum a big hug.
On Hallowe’en night, Connie and Alex thought they had the best costumes ever. Dad took them trick or treating and then they visited the bonfire in a field nearby. The bonfire was very, very hot and Dad made sure they stood way, way back from it. Connie was a little bit afraid.
“I don’t like bonfires,” she said.
“The important thing,” said Dad, “is to never ever visit a bonfire unless you are with an adult. And you have to stay back. Always stay way back.”
When they got home, mum had made some bobbing apples. It was Alex’s favourite game and he always won.
Then Connie remembered! Her sparklers! Mum took them from the top shelf and Connie was so excited. Then they went outside and Dad lit the sparkler and held it way out so the sparks couldn’t hit anyone.
“It looks so pretty,” said Connie. “Light another one! Light another one!”
“Please can I hold one,” said Alex. “I won’t hold it close. Promise.”
Dad shrugged and said. “Okay, but only while I’m right beside you.”
Alex scrunched his face as the sparks flew from the end of the wand. He felt like a real magician.
“Ha haaa!!” he said, waving the sparkler around. Connie laughed at her brother. He looked funny in his magician’s costume.
“Ha haaaa!!” he said again. “I am going to cast a spell on all of you and you will never be…whoops!”
Alex’s hand slipped and the sparkler flew out of his hand and fell onto the grass.
“No!” shouted Mum.
“No!” shouted Dad. But it was too late. Connie grabbed the sparkler just as it fizzled out and she let out a squeal.
“Ow!!! Mummy! Ow, it hurts!”
Mum picked Connie up and raced inside the house. She held Connie’s sore fingers under the cold tap and Connie cried and cried. She put on some burn cream and then wrapped Connie’s fingers up in a clean dressing.
Alex was very sad. He felt like a very silly magician now and he took off his hat and cloak.
“Poor Connie,” he said. “I can’t believe I dropped the sparkler.”
“I feel bad too,” said Dad. “I should never have let you hold a sparkler by yourself. Only adults should handle sparklers. I will never let that happen again.”
Later that night, Connie felt a little bit better. Her fingers were very, very stingy and she couldn’t pick anything up in hr right hand because four of her fingers were all blisters. Mum had made her a bed on the sofa and they were all watching a fireworks display out through the living room window.
“If that’s what a pretty little sparkler can do, imagine how dangerous those big fireworks are,” she said.
“Exactly,” said Mum. “Fireworks may look pretty, but they are very dangerous and very, very hot. Children should never, ever go near fireworks, even after they have been lit.”
“The thing to remember,” said Dad, “is to stay away back and never touch. I must remember that myself from now on!”
Connie blew on her sore fingers. She looked over at Alex who didn’t look like a magician now. He just looked like Alex. Like a very sad Alex.
“Who’s for apple tart?” asked Mum and Alex gave a bright smile.
“Me, me!” he said. “I love hot apple tart with cream. Would apple tart help you feel better, Connie?”
“Yum, yum,” she said and she looked out at the beautiful colours of the fireworks from the safety of her bed on the sofa. “but I think I’ll just have cold apple tart. I’ve had enough hot stuff for one day! Happy Hallowe’en everyone.”
“Happy Hallowe’en,” said Mum, Dad and Alex and they enjoyed their apple tart as the fireworks popped and hissed outside, far away where no one could get hurt.
Copyright:© Promoting Wellbeing Team,
Southern Health and Social Care Trust 2010.
Please reference the Promoting Wellbeing Team of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in the use of this script. This script was developed by BEAM CREATIVE NETWORK and delivered to school children through the ‘Alex and Connie Home Safety Puppet Shows’.
For further information on this project contact:
Nina Daly, Accident Prevention Officer
Promoting Wellbeing Team
Brownlow Health Centre
1 Legahory Centre
Craigavon
BT65 5BE
Tel: 028 3831 1524