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    Optional add-on · Safety · 35 min · Fits Week 24

    Walking and Bike Safety: Rules of the Road

    Objective: Your child will cross streets safely, check that a bike helmet fits, and explain basic rules of the road for young riders, including riding with a grown-up and simple hand signals (highway safety and traffic regulation, including bicycle safety).

    Materials: bike helmet, bike or scooter (optional), chalk, a quiet driveway, path or empty parking area, paper, crayons

    Helps with topics listed by: New York

    1. Warm-Up: Walking Rules (5 min)

      Review crossing the street from the Week 24 health page: stop at the curb, look left, right, then left again, listen, and walk (never run) when it is clear. Add three walking rules: walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk, walk on the side of the road facing the cars so you can see them coming; and cross at corners or crosswalks with a grown-up, never from between parked cars. Ask: 'Why is it hard for a driver to see you step out from between two parked cars?'

    2. Mini-Lesson: The Helmet Fit Check (10 min)

      Teach the 2-V-1 check with your child's own helmet. 2: the front of the helmet sits about two finger-widths above the eyebrows, so it covers the forehead. V: the side straps make a V shape just under each ear. 1: when the chin strap is buckled, only one finger fits between the strap and the chin. Let your child check your helmet (or theirs) and adjust the straps together. Say: 'A helmet only works if it fits and is buckled, every ride, even a short one.' Tell them that a helmet that has been in a crash should be replaced.

    3. Practice: Rules of the Road (15 min)

      Outside in a quiet, safe place with no traffic, draw a small 'road' with chalk: a line down the middle, two driveways and a corner. Teach and practice: (1) Ride with a grown-up, and only where your grown-up says is safe. (2) When riding on a road with a grown-up, ride on the right side, going the same way as the cars. (3) Stop and look left, right and left at every driveway and corner. (4) Be seen: wear bright clothes, and don't ride at night. (5) Hand signals: left arm straight out means 'I'm turning left'; right arm straight out means 'I'm turning right' (some riders bend the left arm up instead); left arm bent down means 'I'm stopping.' Your child walks or rides the chalk road while you call out 'turn left,' 'turn right' or 'stop,' and they give the signal. Hands go back on the handlebars before turning.

    4. Wrap-Up (5 min)

      Your child draws a picture of themselves riding safely and labels three things that keep them safe (helmet, grown-up, riding on the right, bright clothes). Ask: 'What do you do before you ride past a driveway?' (Stop and look.) Note the lesson in your records as 'highway safety and traffic regulation, including bicycle safety.'

    Practice page

    Optional add-on · Walking and Bike Safety: Rules of the Road

    I can walk and ride my bike safely.

    Look: The helmet check, 2-V-1

    1. 2: two fingers above my eyebrows.
    2. V: the straps make a V under each ear.
    3. 1: one finger fits under the buckled chin strap.

    Circle the safe choice.

    1. When I ride on a road with my grown-up, I ride on the ____ side.leftright
    2. There is no sidewalk. I walk ____ the cars.facingwith my back to
    3. I come to a driveway on my bike. I ____.stop and lookride faster
    4. My helmet strap is loose. I ____.ride anywayask a grown-up to fix it

    Hand signals. Draw a line from the signal to what it means.

    1. left arm straight out
    2. right arm straight out
    3. left arm bent down

    Show what you know.

    1. Draw yourself riding safely. Label your helmet.
    2. Write one rule for riding a bike.

    Challenge

    • Why should you walk facing the cars when there is no sidewalk?
    How did it go? Great Okay Tricky