Masha & Foxford school to teach kids general safety rules

Foxford, an online education platform, together with the main characters of Masha and the Bear animated series launches “Safety Lessons” for 4–12 years old children, touching upon the most pressing external and internal threats of their age group. Educational process will be supervised by the beloved kids' character Masha and Tutta Larsen, the former MTV VJ and amazing mom of three

The topic of child safety is a priority for both parents and social institutions, which develop educational programs to ensure safety measures for kids. Foxford online school conducted a research on what parents believe are the major threats for their kids. The study took place in August-September 2020 among 2030 respondents – parents of children from 0 to 14 years old, who ranged their fears related to kids safety in the following order: 1. dangers in the street (91%), (2) the Internet (82%), (3) - the road accidents (78%), then in descending order – hazards around the home (73%), nature (67%), school (61%) and finance (60%).  

Nowadays, children sometimes tend to act independently not taking into account the basic cautions of their parents, prioritizing the information that comes from the opinion leader of their age group. Since they spend a lot of time in digital space surfing the Internet and having online conversations, Foxford course places a special emphasis on bullying and digital environment issues. Therefore, Masha was chosen as the "digital influencer" of the program as one of the world’s top and beloved animated kid characters and the Guinness World Records holder for the most watched animated series on YouTube. 

Masha, like any other child exploring the world around her often finds herself in danger, and the Bear, as a caring parent, helps to avoid her negative outcomes and shows how to behave. The “Safety Lessons” bring awareness of major threats and dangers through the use of real-life examples from “Masha and the Bear” that will certainly be helpful in similar situations in the future. 

Today’s main safety topics which the program focuses on: 

1. How to handle teasing by other children and how to keep personal boundaries. 
2. How to answer the questions about home address on the Internet and how to detect fraudsters. 
3. How to deal with manipulations if a stranger starts a conversation or takes a hand. 
4. What to do in case of fire, flood, or gas leak. 
5. How to cross the road safely, ride a bike and choose a place to play outside.
6. What to do if suspicious person is standing near the front door and how to talk to the police.

During other lessons children will be able to cope with dangerous situations at home, at school, on the Internet, on the street and outdoors. After each lesson the students complete interactive homework, telling Masha and the Bear how to behave in a given situation that allows kids to remember completed material much better. 

“In daily life, we often miss the important things on child safety. And I really like that our course is useful for both children and parents. It contains all the most important tips that will help kids avoid troubles at home, at school, on the street, in the forest and even on the Internet,”- says Tutta Larsen, the former MTV VJ and mom of three.