Sustainable Schools Event Workshop
Are you looking for ideas on how to promote walking to school as part of a larger Eco event?
Do you want an activity that:
- is fun and practical
- gets the children outside in the fresh air
- makes them more active and alert
- helps them and their teachers understand different walk to school schemes?
Here’s what we did - try our ideas for your Eco events:
Workshop organised by BrightKidz at the Sustainable Schools Event, Wicksteed Park, Northants, March 2010
Session time: approx 30 minutes per group (allow longer if following up with craft session)
Group size: up to 30 children with accompanying teachers and assistants
Age of children: mainly primary school Year 1 to Year 6 (age 6-11), adapted slightly for some secondary school (up to Year 9) and secondary school special needs participants.
Location: starts and finishes indoors with most time spent outside in park. Pre-plan a suitable route where there is space to stop and talk to group.
- Brief introduction and participants (including teachers) each choose and put on a high vis item to wear for ‘mini walking bus’ (have a good choice; different colours and items and range of sizes). Why are we wearing bright colours? (drivers can see us)
- Walk together in pairs with an adult at front and back along route to park area or similar.
- Stop to discuss: walking to school, why walk (elicit benefits such as health, environment, less congestion, learn about traffic, sociable/fun).
- Discuss: how can we encourage more walking, eg ‘footsteps’ scheme (collect stickers and stick in a ‘passport’ - show examples), ‘walking bus’ (older children are junior conductors – ask teachers to choose four and lend/give Junior conductor badges or stickers).
- ‘Crazy walk’: (especially good for kids who need to let off steam after being indoors a long time!). Explain that walking in the park and walking by the road is different; can run, jump, skip, walk in a crazy way in park but have to walk carefully by traffic. Kids then ‘crazy walk’ around nearby area for 1-2 minutes (can use whistle to call them back).
- Children then do ‘safe walk’ in pairs as if they are near traffic to show they know the difference from walking in the park, with ‘junior conductors’ keeping an eye on how well they walk.
- If time, you can include demonstration of ‘park and stride’ as part of ‘safe walk’; child living far from school acts out ‘driving’ to place not too near school, waits to join group of children walking and walks the last bit to ‘school’. Award with ‘park and stride’ car window sticker or badge.
- Walk back as ‘mini walking bus’ to start point, children hand back ‘high vis’ and junior conductors give each participant a ‘shiny footstep’ sticker.
- We followed up with a ‘high vis’ design session; pupils draw designs using high vis offcuts (free from BrightKidz on request) and fluorescent paper which they can take back to their school and use to create a display.
Extra Tips
For older children (secondary school), they were (surprisingly) keen to dress up in the high vis and also loved the ‘crazy walk’. We focused more on cycling benefits and cycle safety and spent less time on the walk to school schemes.
Adjust what you do to suit the children and weather, eg can do ‘walking bus’ on pre-planned route inside building if it pours or if there’s no suitable outside space available.
Give each group’s key teacher a selection of walk to school incentives, eg School Travel Intro Pack and copy of our free booklet ‘How to Get More Kids Walking to School’ so they are inspired to use the ideas they’ve just learnt about.
