🐣 Cyber Starter · 12 missions · about 5 minutes each
Cyber safety for ages 4–7
Short stories, games and quizzes. Great to do together with a parent or carer. Each mission explains the idea in plain words, tells a short story with Security Sam the guard dog and Sly the trickster fox, then lets players catch Sly's tricks and finish with a quiz and a certificate.
The missions
-
📱 Look After Your Device
Device safety, updates & apps
Lock the screen, ask before downloading, and let updates fix the weak spots.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Locking devices, why updates matter, that scary "virus" pop-ups on websites are scams, and only installing apps from official stores with permission.
- Set a PIN or passcode on every device your child uses, and turn on auto-lock.
- Turn on automatic updates for the device and its apps. Check older tablets still get security updates; if not, plan to replace them.
- Turn on parental approval for downloads (most phones and tablets have an “ask to buy” or family setting), and agree where devices sleep at night.
-
🔍 Search Smart
Searching safely
The internet is huge, so search together with a parent or carer.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Why open-ended searching isn’t suitable for young children, using child-friendly services an adult has set up, that not everything online is true, and what to do if they see something upsetting.
- Turn on SafeSearch and parental controls on devices and on your home broadband (most UK providers offer free filters).
- Agree which apps and sites they can use on their own.
- Practise the "turn it over and tell" rule so it feels normal, and react calmly if they use it.
-
🎮 Playing on a Parent's Phone
Adverts & paying in games
Never tap to pay, because it's real money. Wait for the X to close adverts.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
That in-game purchases cost real money, how to close adverts safely (wait for the X), that some adverts are designed to look like part of the game, and that adverts can show unsuitable content.
- Require a password, face or fingerprint check for every purchase. Look in the device’s app store or family settings for “purchase approval” or “require authentication”.
- Turn on aeroplane mode for offline games, which stops most adverts loading.
- Consider paid, ad-free versions of favourite games, or child-focused apps without adverts or in-app purchases.
-
📺 Watching Videos
Video apps & influencers
Videos are fun, but not all are made for children, and not everyone in them is a good example.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
That autoplay and recommendations can lead to unsuitable content, what to do if they see something upsetting, and that influencers may be selling things or modelling behaviour that isn’t good for them.
- Use a children’s version of the video app or a supervised account, turn off autoplay, and keep devices in shared rooms.
- Watch some of their favourite channels with them and talk about what the presenter wants them to think, do or buy.
- Explain that "sponsored" or "ad" means someone has been paid to show it.
-
💎 Keep It Private
Personal information
Your name, school, address and photos are personal information. Keep them offline: your data belongs to you.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
What counts as personal information, using nicknames online, that anything posted is hard to undo, and that children have data rights under the UK GDPR.
- Choose a safe game nickname together.
- Check the privacy and chat settings on the games and apps they use.
- Talk about asking permission before sharing photos of other people too.
- Children have the same data rights as adults, including asking a company what it holds (a subject access request). For young children a parent usually asks for them; ico.org.uk explains how. The ICO's Children's Code expects apps to use high-privacy settings by default.
-
🎭 People Can Pretend
Strangers online
People online are not always who they say they are, and real friends never ask for secrets.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
That people online may not be who they say they are, that requests for secrecy or personal details are red flags, and that telling an adult never gets them into trouble.
- Which games or apps let them chat with others, and who they know there. Consider turning chat off for young children.
- Reassure them you will stay calm and won’t take the device away as a punishment for telling you something.
- For UK advice and reporting, see Thinkuknow and CEOP (ceop.police.uk).
-
💛 Be Kind Online
Kindness & unkind messages
Be kind online, don't reply to unkind messages, and show a grown-up.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Being kind online, not replying to unkind messages, how block and report work, and that being targeted is never the child’s fault.
- Show your child where Block and Report are in the games and apps they use, and practise together.
- Ask: "If someone was mean to you in a game, what would you do?" Make it clear they will never lose the device for telling you.
- Screenshot unkind messages before blocking, in case you need to report them. Childline (0800 1111) is free and confidential for children of any age.
-
🔑 Super-Strong Passwords
Passwords
Mash three silly words together, keep your password private, and use two locks when you can.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Passphrases (three random words, as the NCSC recommends), keeping passwords and one-time codes private, that a request for either is a warning sign, and what two-step login (MFA) is.
- Make up a silly three-word password together (it doesn’t have to be a real one).
- Ask: "If a game asked for your password, what would you do?"
- Explain that you look after their real passwords for now.
- Your child has been asked if you use two-step login (MFA). Turn it on for email, banking, shopping, and the family’s gaming and app store accounts. An authenticator app or passkey is stronger than text codes.
-
🎣 Don't Take the Bait
Phishing
Spot tricky messages that use prizes, panic or hurry to make you click.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Recognising phishing: urgency, too-good-to-be-true prizes, scare messages, requests for passwords, and impersonation. The answer is always: don’t click, show an adult.
- Show them a real spam text or email from your phone and spot the bait together.
- Agree a family rule: you will never be cross if they show you something they clicked.
- Explain that tricky messages can look like they come from people or brands we know.
-
🔒 Look for the Padlock
HTTPS
The S in https is a secret tunnel that stops snooping, but still check a site is OK.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
That HTTPS encrypts the connection and stops eavesdropping, but does not prove a site is trustworthy. Phishing sites use HTTPS too.
- Show them where your browser shows https or the padlock (some browsers only show it when you tap the address bar).
- Point out what a 'Not secure' warning looks like.
- Reinforce that adults decide which websites are OK to use.
-
👀 Sharing Screens
Peeking, using only your own accounts, logging out & warning screens
Hide your PIN from peekers, only use your own accounts, log out when you finish, and go back when the browser shows a red warning.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
Shoulder surfing, only using your own accounts and asking before using someone else’s device, logging out of shared devices, what a browser’s real safety warning looks like (and how it differs from scary pop-ups), and that computers have built-in anti-malware.
- Practise covering a PIN together, and agree that PINs and passwords are never shared with friends.
- On shared family devices, give each child their own profile where you can, and sign out of game and video accounts on devices you don’t own.
- Check the computer’s built-in security protection is switched on, kept up to date and set to scan regularly (a daily quick scan is a good habit). On phones and tablets, automatic updates and the official app store do most of the job.
-
🛑 Stop, Think, Tell
Putting it all together
Three words for anything that feels wrong online.
What it teaches, and talking points for home
One simple routine that brings everything together and works anywhere online.
- Put "Stop, Think, Tell" on the fridge.
- Promise that telling you never leads to punishment or losing the device.
- Celebrate the Cyber Champion certificate.
Teachers: every mission has a free printable lesson sheet on the For teachers page.