Continue to Celebrate All Year Long
Walk to (or at) School Day celebrations don’t have to be limited to one day per year. Consider hosting one or two activities per month and before you know it, walking or biking to school will once again become a way of life for the students you serve.
Mileage Club
Students walk on the school playground, perimeter or a pre-determined path several times each week or during recess. Mile marker cards are checked every time a child completes a lap on the course. When the walking session ends, the students calculate their distance traveled and for each five miles a child walks, the child is rewarded. Toe Tokens (bright colored plastic feet designed to be worn on shoe laces), certificates and a school display posters can be used for awards. All awards are designed to provide children with a sense of accomplishment, recognition and a source of positive image building.
Kids Pasta Marathon
This inexpensive mileage program has a final marathon goal. After a kick-off pasta lunch (or family dinner) students receive a footprint/mileage chart to track1/2 mile increments. For each mile, students receive a piece of pasta. Throughout the "marathon" kids make and wear 26-piece pasta necklaces. For more information go to http://www.kidsrunning.com.
Frequent Rider Miles
Children are issued tally cards to win points for walking, biking, carpooling and busing. Every time they walk or bike to school they earn two points. Every time they carpool or take the bus they earn one point. When they earn twenty points students turn in their card for a small prize and get another card. At the end of the contest, hold a raffle drawing of all the completed tally card.
Another option for tracking walking/biking to (or at) is to create a classroom game board. Every time the majority of the class walked or biked to (or at) school, they stamped a square on the board. When the whole board was completed, the class qualifies for a class prize. Walking at school can occur during recess, after lunch time or an organized classroom time.
Greening of the Trees
Each student colors/cuts a leave when they arrive to school. Walking and biking students color leaves green. Those who arrive by bus and carpool get a different shade of green leaf. If a child traveled by car part of the way, but walked at least a block, the leaf is half yellow or brown and half green. Students who arrive by car (but not in a carpool) get a brown leaf. The leaves are then mounted on a tree, and the more the children walk or bike to school, the greener the tree becomes.
Walk and Bike Across America
Students keep track of the distance that they walk and bike to school by calculating how far they live from school and multiplying that by the number of one-way biking and walking trips. If children are dropped off at staging areas near school they calculate the distance they travel from there. Similar counts are made from home to the bus stop. Each week the students add up the distance that the whole class traveled during that week and plot it on a map. Then they "travel" to a destination chosen by the class within those miles. Additional idea, lesson plans and materials can be found at Walk Across America.
Safety Awareness Signs
Art class is the perfect opportunity for children to develop safety slogans and art while learning about better safety practices. Their artwork can then be used as signs or banners as part of a community-wide safety campaign.
*Activities, celebration ideas and select long term activities were adapted from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
