Guide to Tabletop Exercises

A tabletop exercise is an activity where participants gather to discuss their roles during an emergency and their responses to a scenario. Unlike a practice drill for adults and children, tabletop exercises are a type of professional development. The exercises provide a collaborative setting that encourages staff to work together as a team to ensure that everyone knows what they need to do and what procedures to follow during an emergency.

Using a tabletop exercise with your Emergency Role Action Sheets can help you become more familiar with the procedures and other key parts of your disaster preparedness plan by offering an opportunity to walk through your procedures, focus on making decisions, and solve problems.

Designing Your Tabletop Exercise

Choose one of the sample response scenarios for your tabletop exercise or design your own based on the types of emergencies that are most likely to affect your early childhood program. Consider these 10 questions and how they relate to the scenario you choose.

Questions to Consider

• What are the roles and responsibilities of each staff member during an emergency, and who is responsible for making decisions during an emergency?
• What partnerships do we have with local emergency services and other community agencies, and how do we coordinate with them?
• What is our evacuation plan, and how do we make sure that we can account for all children and staff?
• How do we reunite children with their families, and what do we do if a parent or someone else on the approved contact list can’t pick up their child?
• What are the procedures for evacuations, lockdowns and stay safe, or sheltering in place?
• How do we support the emotional and psychological needs of children and staff during an emergency?
• How do we make sure that we can meet the needs of children with disabilities and special health care needs during an emergency?
• What emergency supplies do we have and where are they stored?
• How do we communicate with families during an emergency, and how do we handle communication breakdowns if the phone lines or internet are down?
• How do we make sure our emergency plans are inclusive and culturally responsive to all families and staff?

Sample Response Scenarios

Earthquake

Scenario 1: Snack Time

During snack time, you see milk sloshing in glasses and believe that this could signal an earthquake. You quickly count the children and then calmly tell them and staff members that an earthquake is happening and remind them of the response procedure: “drop, cover, and hold on.”

Since you have practiced this, the children know how to drop to their hands and knees, so the earthquake doesn’t knock them down. They also know how to cover their heads and necks with their arms. Because this is happening during snack time, the children crawl under the table and hold on to a sturdy object, such as a table leg or chair leg. Teachers alert the director that they are all safely sheltered and will stay where they are. 

Scenario 2: Infants

You are changing an infant’s diaper. Your assistant caregiver has two infants on a sheet on the floor for tummy time when you feel a vibration in the floor. You pick up the infant at once and hold her close to you as you drop to the floor. Your assistant caregiver pulls the two infants close to her and pulls the sheet over them. Because you have planned and practiced your response, the three other infants in their cribs are protected. The cribs are sturdy, and there are no shelves or items that can fall on them.

Since the shaking is not severe, you give the infant to your assistant, and she closely holds the three infants with her on the floor. You move the other three napping infants into a single evacuation crib, cover the crib with the approved fire-proof blanket, then drop down and hold on to the crib.

Tornado

Scenario 1: Center-based Program

After lunch, the sky becomes cloudy. You tell staff members to keep children indoors for play. Around 1 p.m., you are told of a tornado watch for your area. Your center is in a well-built facility. You visit each classroom to be sure staff members and volunteers know about the weather conditions and are ready to take shelter if the weather alert says to shelter in place. One preschool class has a substitute teacher. She has taken part in emergency preparedness training. You confirm that she knows the procedure and the safe area for her class. Many classrooms have restrooms along the interior wall that can offer safe shelter. But, two of the preschool classes are instructed to walk across the interior hallway to the main restrooms for shelter.

Your National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radio alerts you that the tornado watch has been moved up to a tornado warning. It’s time to have the center shelter in place. You use your emergency whistle to signal staff members to take shelter.

Scenario 2: Family Child Care Home

You do not have a basement or interior room that is structurally safe for a storm; however, you have an agreement with a church nearby to use their building as a safe shelter. When you hear that the tornado watch is now a tornado warning, you count heads, grab your go bag, and begin to evacuate. The church is only a block away. The tornado is not yet in your area, so it is safe to walk if you leave at once.

First responders arrive and let you know that there has been damage to nearby areas and homes. You are not sure if your home has been hit, but it is safe to leave the shelter. You begin your reunification procedures from the shelter.

Flood

It has been raining for three days in a row. Your early childhood program is within a half mile of a river that flows throughout the area. The water has risen each day, but today you hear that it has reached flood level. You have been listening to updates from your local emergency management agency, which now recommends that everyone within a mile of the river evacuate at once. Your program has two preschool classrooms and five infant and toddler classrooms. You are worried that you don’t have time to tell your families to pick up their children, and you want the staff, children, and their families to be as safe as possible. You decide that there is time to evacuate safely and start your evacuation procedures.

Wildfire

Your program has been checking the status of wildfires nearby for the last week. A faint smell of smoke has been outside. You are on the playground with a group of preschool children, and today the smell of smoke is much stronger. A few minutes later, a colleague comes outside to tell you that the local emergency management agency has just issued a wildfire warning for this part of the county. You know that you will need to evacuate with the children at once.

Intruder

You are the director of a center that has infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. A parent of two children has told you he is in custody proceedings with his ex-spouse. He has given you legal documentation that he has sole custody, and his ex-spouse does not have visitation rights.

On Friday afternoon, his ex-spouse arrives at the program and says that she is picking up their two children for weekend visitation. After asking for her identification and checking your authorization list, you tell her that she is not on the approved contact list, and you cannot release the children to her. She loudly says that they are her children, and she will be taking them. You contact the child’s custodial parent at once, and you start lockdown procedures according to your practiced plan.

Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics

Use these questions to practice your preparation and response to these types of emergencies:

• How will you make sure your program is prepared for a pandemic?
• How will you focus on the mental health effects of preparing for a pandemic?
• Where will you go for reliable information?
• Whom will you invite to be on your Health and Mental Health Services Advisory Committee to help your program prepare for and respond to a disease outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic?
• How will you handle a program closure due to illness?
• What policies and procedures will you review and adapt if needed?
• What other supplies will you need?
• How will you fix ventilation issues if there is an outbreak of respiratory illness?
• What other training and information do staff members need?
• How will you share information with program families and community partners?

Activity Evaluation Questions

At the end of your tabletop exercise, debrief and list strengths and opportunities for improvement. Here are some questions to reflect on during your discussion:

• What did we do well?
• What areas of improvement did we find?
• What steps will we take to make necessary changes to our disaster preparedness plan?
• When will we complete these revisions?
• How will we share these updates with staff, families, community partners, and emergency services?

By answering these questions, you can create a tabletop exercise that improves your readiness for emergencies.

Download Guide to Tabletop Exercises

Last Updated: June 13, 2025