The article presents an iterative process of studying the search for ways to improve the effectiveness of education in the field of life safety and one of its results is a structural and functional model for the formation of a safety culture in children of preschool and primary school age. The parameters and criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of educational activities aimed at the formation of a safety culture at the levels of preschool and primary general education are identified. The description and results of diagnostic measures carried out as part of experimental work on approbation of the author’s model are given. The conclusion is made about its effectiveness, the revealed regularities.