Earning My Tricycle License

Children go through a driving-school course with stations: zigzag around cones, crosswalk, STOP sign and parking; when they finish they get a sticker on their playground driver's license. It puts road-safety learning into practice and reaching a personal goal.

How to play

1. The teacher shows the four-station course and each child's cardstock license with four sticker spaces (2 min).
2. We all walk the course with a hoop and explain what to do at each station (3 min).
3. Take turns on tricycles or ride-ons with helmets; meanwhile the others do the course with their hoop behind them (5 min).
4. Switch so everyone gets to do it on wheels (5 min).
5. License ceremony: each child gets a sticker and says which station they liked best (3 min).

Rules

• Helmets always on vehicles.
• At STOP we stop completely.
• At the crosswalk we brake.
• Everyone earns a license: nobody fails.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: a child using a wheelchair does the course in their chair with cones spaced wider.
• Visual impairment: each station has a different sound, and a buddy announces each one.
• Autism: a license with pictures of each station so they can see which one is next and how many are left.

Learning goals

• Apply road-safety rules on a course.
• Control a vehicle in different tasks.
• Reach a goal and feel capable.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Tricycles: 6
• Ride-on toys: 4
• Helmets: 10
• Cones: 12
• Cardboard signs: 3
• Sidewalk chalk: 6
• Stickers: 25
• Hoops: 15

Teacher tip

Make the licenses with each child's name and photo or drawing ahead of time: they absolutely love them. Remember nobody fails; if a station is hard, repeat it with help.

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