FEMA has created an activity coloring book titled Building Codes Activity Book to help children learn about the ways in which building codes help to protect communities against natural hazards. By using natural hazard-resistant building codes, communities are better prepared for events such as earthquakes, storms, floods, and fires. The activity book follows two kids through their community where they talk about building to withstand natural hazards. It includes several pages of various activities such as mazes, connect the dots, find the hidden objects, word scrambles, word searches and more.
The book discusses several key ideas in a way that is easily digestible to children:
- Natural hazard events have the potential to cause severe damage.
- Natural hazards can harm not only people but also buildings and structures. Different building codes are used for different structures, depending on the type of hazard.
- Storm shelters can be built to protect yourself and others from the dangers of hurricanes and tornadoes.
FEMA is excited to release this activity book for children and students to do independently or with a parent to foster conversations about building codes and relate them back to real-world scenarios that you might see in your city or town.
The need to reach a younger stakeholder audience was evident through community events attended by FEMA, as well as requested by educators to use in classrooms.
FEMA has several resources available on each hazard discussed in the activity book:
About Building Science
Building Science is a central focus for FEMA. It involves the study of how natural hazards effect structures, while FEMA employs leading industry professionals in architecture, engineering, and seismology to bring solutions to these challenges our country’s infrastructure faces. FEMA Building Science is the Earthquake and Wind Programs Branch and Building Science Branch. For more information, contact fema-building-codes-program@fema.dhs.gov. Not subscribed? Click here to sign up for the Building Science newsletter today.
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