Keeping Children Safe Outdoors in the Tropics

Heat is the actual risk

Not snakes. Heat, and it is underestimated constantly.

Do not run outdoor sessions between about eleven and two. Morning is better in every way. Shade, water available at all times, and hats. A child who has stopped complaining and gone quiet in the heat needs attention immediately.

Water

Have it outside with you, not back in the classroom. Children will not ask to go and get it, they will just not drink.

Sun

In equatorial sun a child burns faster than most adults expect. Shade, timing and covering up work better than relying on sunscreen you have to reapply.

Insects

Mosquitoes are the genuine concern because of what they carry. Standing water removal beats every plant and every spray, and it is the thing to actually do.

Ants are everywhere and mostly harmless, but check any surface children will sit on. In the tropics an ant trail relocates overnight.

Bees and wasps, know whether any child has an allergy before you go outside, not after.

Plants

Learn the ones on your own site that matter. Frangipani sap irritates. Anything with fine hairs on a caterpillar or a leaf is worth avoiding. Raw cassava and raw taro are genuinely dangerous and should be taught as such to older children rather than hidden.

The general rule children can actually hold: we do not put anything in our mouths outside unless an adult has said this one, today.

Falling fruit

Coconuts and jackfruit cause real injuries. Do not let children sit under a fruiting tree, and have fruit harvested rather than left to drop.

What is usually fine

Mud, rain, bare feet, insects in hands, dirty hands before washing. These are the things people worry about and they are not the risks.