Why are Children so Fascinated with Fire Engines and Firefighters?
Fire engines are a timeless toy that seems to span generations. Many of us will remember playing with a fire engine toy as a child or even getting to see a real fire truck at a school fete or similar, and children today are just as excited by them despite the massive increase in technology and the vast array of toys available for today’s children.
There are a number of possible reasons why children are so drawn to fire engines and being firefighters:
- First of all, has to be the fact that they are just so cool. Massive big red trucks with huge extendable ladders and long hoses that are capable of putting out fires in tower blocks or rescuing cats stuck in trees. Not to mention the noise and the flashing lights when they go past.
- Secondly, firefighters are undoubtedly heroes. But unlike Spiderman or Captain America, these are real-life heroes that our children can actually aspire to be. They put their lives at risk on a daily basis to save people from burning buildings and car wrecks. Plus they have a great costumes and a really cool ride. What more could you want?
- And then, of course, there are all the TV shows that feature fire trucks and firefighters. Fireman Sam was first aired in the 1980s and is still a firm favourite with kids today. And if you are a parent and you don’t know who Marshal the fire pup is, well done you.
Why do kids love fire engine toys?
All the above reasons must go some way to account for the number of fire engine toys available. Fire engines are cool, they are driven by heroes and their favourite TV characters and they are vital for saving lives.
But they are also really good fun to play with and offer so many opportunities for imaginative small world play.
While you could go and buy an all singing all dancing plastic fire truck that makes sounds and has an automatic extendable ladder, children will have just as much fun, learn more, and play better with a more simple passive version.
They don’t need to be shown how a fire engine works or the noise it makes, and somehow it’s just more fun to make the noises yourself and manually extend the ladder to rescue people and animals.
Children love to play at being heroes and a fire engine toy offers them the perfect opportunity to do this. They can set up their own emergency situations with other toys making this a great addition to almost any small play set up you already have. Although you might find your doll house starts burning down on a fairly regular basis and toy cars suddenly start having loads more accidents than usual.
