Children as young as seven will be taught about the dangers of alcohol as part of an education department campaign to reduce underage drinking.

A new interactive resource, Message in a Bottle, was launched in government schools last month to teach students from Years 3 to 6 about the dangers of alcohol.

Students will also examine alcohol labelling, how the media influences alcohol use and alternatives to drinking.

The campaign is in response to research that shows alcohol education is most effective when introduced before drinking behaviour patterns develop.

In the 2005 Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug Survey 10 per cent of 12- to 17- year-olds reported binge drinking or drinking at risky levels at least once a week.

Education department drug prevention programs unit manager Tracey Cross said the resource kit included a “big book”, teaching and learning activities, a teacher’s support manual with teaching and learning activities and information to help families play a positive role in alcohol education.

The resource uses a book, written by children’s author Margaret Clark, about the adventures of two children Tess and Troy, who are asked to deliver messages about the harmful effects of drinking to adults.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, in terms of the approach. It really enables us to engage children in drug education,” Ms Cross said.

The resource gave students the opportunity to practise interpersonal skills and was “intended to enable them to make healthy choices in situations that involve the use of alcohol”.

The NSW Minister for Education and Training, John Della Bosca, said the resource, made available to all government primary schools last term, had already been trialled by 11 primary schools.

“It was also evaluated by research consultants … and was found to be effective in improving students’ knowledge about alcohol and their communication and decisionmaking skills,” said Mr Della Bosca, who launched the resource.

“Well before young people find themselves at a party being offered alcohol, we are equipping our students with the knowledge and skills they need to make informed judgements.”

Budgewoi Public School teacher Anthony Moran said his Year 4 students who participated in the trial engaged with the “storybook style” of the resource and related well to the key messages embedded in the characters’ adventure.

“It put [the information] in context, and in a format they related to and could understand, and they read those sorts of books on a daily basis, those sorts of other-world style narrative,” Mr Moran said.

“Because it’s a narrative, it could slide right in with other things we were doing in class in terms of text types. I was already teaching narrative that term so we tied it in with our English program.”