Active Commute to School Relay
Each team travels from "home" to "school" by choosing types of transportation, each shown with a different way of moving: walking, biking, scooter, bus or car. Moving earns health hearts, and students discover through play why an active trip to school is healthy.
How to play
- Make 5 teams of 5, each with a 20 m (65 ft) lane from "home" to "school" and a "traffic jam" hoop in the middle (2 min).
- Each team has a deck of transportation cards: walking (power walk), bike (skipping with handlebar arms), scooter (pushing off with one leg, switching halfway), bus (the whole team in a line holding hands) and car.
- Before leaving, the runner picks a card and shows it. A car must walk slowly and sit for 15 seconds in the traffic-jam hoop; a bus leaves with the whole team.
- At school, the runner collects clothespins for their trip: walking or bike 3, scooter 2, bus 1 each and car 0. Then they jog back and the next runner goes.
- Play 3 rounds of 4 minutes; each round the teacher lengthens the lane with cones ("I live close," "halfway," "far").
- At the end, each team counts its hearts and explains which type of trip they would choose for their real route to school and why (3 min).
Rules
- Each runner uses a different card than the runner before.
- Complete the movement correctly, or repeat it.
- No one lets go of hands on the bus.
- Return outside the lane so you do not collide with arriving runners.
Variations
Easier
Use only three types of trip (walking, bike and car) at a fixed distance.
Standard
Five types of trip, three distances and clothespin scoring.
Harder
Add "traffic lights" in the lane where the teacher stops traffic and players wait in a wall-sit squat.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: rolling in a wheelchair counts as an active trip with the same points as walking.
- Autism or reading difficulties: cards show a picture and one line describing the movement.
- Different fitness levels: each runner may do a gentler version of their movement without losing points.
Learning goals
- Identify active transportation as a healthy habit.
- Perform different locomotor skills with control.
- Decide as a team how to earn more health points.
Equipment for a class of 25
- cards: 25
- cones: 15
- hoops: 5
- clothespins: 150
Teacher tip
Connect to real traffic safety: helmets for bikes and scooters and crossing at crosswalks.
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