The Big City of Traffic Lights

We turn the playground into a city with cone streets and several intersections, each with a child acting as the traffic light with red and green cards; the rest drive their hoop-cars and obey the lights and crosswalks. It works on following signals, getting around a space and early road-safety rules.

How to play

1. The teacher shows the city: streets marked with cones, three intersections and a crosswalk drawn in chalk or marked with ropes (2 min).
2. Everyone takes a hoop as a steering wheel and drives along the streets; the teacher is the only traffic light at the main intersection (3 min).
3. Choose three traffic-light children, one per intersection, each with a red and a green card; cars stop on red and go on green (3 min).
4. Add pedestrians: at “Pedestrians!”, cars park, leave the hoop and walk across the crosswalk when their light is green (3 min).
5. Switch traffic lights so everyone gets a turn, and finish by parking the cars in the garage (4 min).

Rules

• On red, the car stops before the intersection.
• On the street, always stay to the right and never push to pass.
• Pedestrians walk across, never run.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: drive along wider streets or be a traffic light, a role with lots of responsibility.
• Visual impairment: the traffic light says “red” or “green” out loud; the child drives with a co-pilot.
• Autism: start as a traffic light next to the teacher, then drive once they feel ready.

Learning goals

• Obey simple traffic signals.
• Move along streets respecting space and direction.
• Learn basic rules for crossing the street.

Equipment for a class of 25

• aros: 25
• conos: 20
• cartulinas de colores: 9

Teacher tip

Tape the cards to a stick or a cone so the traffic lights don't get tired of holding them. Use it to talk about how we really cross the street with a grown-up: it's the part kids remember most.

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