TEACHING ROAD SAFETY THROUGH PLAY!

This week is “National Road Safety” week. With such an age range of children I really felt it was something we needed to focus on. I introduced the idea and conversation of road safety by bringing the wooden road set out. We could talk about how traffic moves on roads. How there are different sides of the roads, how cars need to respond to Traffic lights and the fact that these rules sometimes change if there is an Emergency vehicle coming with flashing lights and a siren. We explored Zebra crossings and how they are a safe place to cross.

The children practised this idea with the cars and wooden road set. There were lots of conversations about the rules we had discussed. At one point Little “L” told Little “R” off for not stopping her car at the Zebra crossing! She even called for my help to explain that cars “HAVE to stop!”

We talked about Traffic lights and what the colours mean.
They all now know….
Red = STOP
Yellow = Get ready
Green = GO!

The children enjoyed a few games of the Traffic light game. When I called “Green light”, we all ran around making car noises and beeping our horns. When I said “Red light” we all stopped. Then I said “Yellow light…. get ready” and everyone grinned… ready for me to say “Green light” again and then they ran off!

I printed out some colouring sheets about road safety. We talked about the Road signs and what they mean.

Little “R” remembered the colours of the Traffic lights when she coloured her’s in!

Little “C” was very interested in the Traffic lights and we went over the “Stop, Get ready, Go” conversation a lot!

Once he felt happy with the idea he used the road set to cement his learning. Making cars stop at the red light and then changing the light to green and making the car drive away!

We read a book about a girl who mad a bad choice and left the safety of her garden to ride her bike by the road. It was called “Danger Dec saves the day”. It showed a very near accident because the girl did not stop at the road but Danger Dec saved her! We have learnt the signs for the words “Stop” and “Danger” to emphasise these points.
Here you can see little “L” signing Danger!

In this picture the children are all signing STOP!

After school we all walked in to a quiet cul-de-sac to practice what we had learnt. I asked the children to find a safe place to cross. Because there were no zebra crossings this was a bit of a challenge. Several time the children suggested a place and we talked through the “Stop, look, listen” process. Each time we realised that we could not see clearly because of a parked van or a corner. So we continued down the path till we found a better spot.

We reiterated the rule “Hold hands and stay safe!”

LEARNING INTENTIONS AND IDEAS FOR EXPANDING LEARNING:
The idea of this weeks focus was for all the children to learn some important rules for road safety. I try to pitch the activities and learning at the different ages and understanding levels of the children. I wanted to explore these rules for safety in the home and through stories and play before we took it outside. We always talk about safety when we are out walking but I wanted the children to be able to show me a safe place to cross and assess the Dangers for themselves. I will continue with this over the next few weeks and we will have more short walks to practice our skills.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEARNING:

This is a very important learning focus for the children in my care. Traffic accidents is the biggest threat to our children and it is important we find a fun way to teach them to stay safe. All the children have enjoyed the play offered so far this week and big children have sat with the pre-schoolers and shared their knowledge whilst playing with the road set. I have observed little “R”, little “L” and Little “C” all acting out things that they have learnt, in their play. Each one has been motivated by their interest and desire to learn. They were all keen to share their ideas and any knowledge they already had. Whilst we were out walking, they all chose places to cross the road and talked though why it was a good place. They listened to the other children when they pointed out a Danger they had missed and took this on board. The signing of key words has really helped them to focus on some serious points in our story and has given us a way to emphasize these points. They are transferring this knowledge to other areas of risk, like touching hot things and using “Stop” with the sign, to make it clear to others when they do not like something that is happening. It has been a really valuable addition to their language and communication.

Today’s play, meets the following EYFS Prime and specific areas