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Organizing Event Bike Safety Activities While bike-riding can be a great outdoor activity for the family to enjoy, it is very important that your child understands the safety guidelines before rushing out on the streets. Kids Health reports that approximately half a million kids are seriously injured in bike-related accidents every year in the U.S. Of that number, most of the accidents could have been avoided had the child been wearing a helmet. Rather than just lecturing, parents and teachers can teach kids how to play fun interactive games that also will help them learn important safety practices Safety flash cards: Flash cards are a good interactive tool for learning information. In particular, safety flash cards are a way to get children involved in learning more about safety. Part of the fun of the activity is actually making the flash cards. Typically, flash cards are made by writing a question on one side and an answer on the opposite side. Children can be creative and draw on the cards, while at the same time learning important safety guidelines. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers some examples of the different types of questions that can be written on flash cards. For example, what should you always check before riding your bike? Answer: brakes and air in the tires. Or, what should you always wear on your head when riding a bike? Answer: a helmet. Draw a safety scene: Wearing a helmet, maintaining your bike, and wearing bright clothing are important safety guidelines for

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Organizing Event

Bike Safety Activities

While bike-riding can be a great outdoor activity for the family to enjoy, it is very important that your child understands the safety guidelines before rushing out on the streets. Kids Health reports that approximately half a million kids are seriously injured in bike-related accidents every year in the U.S. Of that number, most of the accidents could have been avoided had the child been wearing a helmet. Rather than just lecturing, parents and teachers can teach kids how to play fun interactive games that also will help them learn important safety practices

Safety flash cards: Flash cards are a good interactive tool for learning information. In particular, safety flash cards are a way to get children involved in learning more about safety. Part of the fun of the activity is actually making the flash cards. Typically, flash cards are made by writing a question on one side and an answer on the opposite side. Children can be creative and draw on the cards, while at the same time learning important safety guidelines.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers some examples of the different types of questions that can be written on flash cards. For example, what should you always check before riding your bike? Answer: brakes and air in the tires. Or, what should you always wear on your head when riding a bike? Answer: a helmet.

Draw a safety scene: Wearing a helmet, maintaining your bike, and wearing bright clothing are important safety guidelines for riding bikes. Once a child has learned the basics of bike safety, a fun way to test his or her knowledge is by having him or her draw a safety scene. First, ask the child to draw an image that depicts a safe bike-riding scene. Some of the things that should be included in the picture are a person wearing a helmet, the sun (to indicate it’s daylight), and a well-maintained bike. If a child does a good job drawing the scene, you know that he or she understands the basic safety precautions when riding a bike.

Word find puzzles: Another way to reinforce safety techniques is through word find puzzles. This is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Word puzzles can be created for free on many online sites, such as www.teach-nology.com and www.wordsearchfun.com.

Some of the words you may include in the puzzle are bicycle, safety, helmet, signs, and protection. Depending on the age of the child, you can make the word search easier or harder.

Sign recognition: Help children make signs that they would typically encounter while riding a bike, such as stop signs and bicycle yield signs. Hang the signs in different areas of your home or classroom and ask the children to recognize the signs and follow their directions whenever they encounter them. This activity will foster sign recognition and help kids practice heeding what the signs dictate.

Helmets: Require that kids wear helmets when bike riding. According to www.kidshealth.org, half a million children are injured seriously every year in biking accidents. Most of these injuries would have been minimized if the child had been wearing a helmet. Involve your kids in choosing colorful, well-ventilated helmets. Have them fitted properly at the store before purchasing. If children pick out a helmet, they may be more cooperative in wearing it. Make sure the helmet straps stay adjusted properly and that the child buckles the straps every time the helmet is worn.

Bike fit: Make sure that the bicycle properly fits the child. Have the child stand over the bicycle and check to see where the top bar of the bike reaches on the child. There should be one to two inches of space between a road bike and the child and three to four inches of space between a mountain bike and the child. The seat should be placed at a height that allows the knees to be slightly bent when at the lowest point of the pedal rotation.

Be visible: Encourage children to wear bright colors when biking. Bright neon colors are the most visible, both day and night. Consider adding strips of reflectors to backpacks or jackets. Discourage night biking. Drivers often do not see bicyclists at night. If night biking cannot be avoided, place reflectors on the front and back of the bike and on the tires. Add a flashing light to the rear of the bike and a strong headlight to the front of the bike.

Rules of the road: Teach children the rules of the road and make sure they follow them. Bicyclists should ride on the right side of the road and travel with traffic. A bike

rider is required to follow all of the same road rules that cars follow. This includes stopping at all stop signs and stop lights. Children also should be taught the proper hand signals so that they can signal their intentions to other vehicles around them.

Stay alert: Bicyclists need to stay constantly alert to conditions around them. This includes road conditions, traffic conditions, and their own bike conditions. Teach children to look far enough ahead in the direction they are biking so that they can plan their actions as much as possible. Bicyclists should never distract themselves with personal audio devices or cellphones while biking.

Young children (under 10 years of age) are generally not considered mature enough to bike independently on streets. Teach young children to bike on the sidewalk if it is allowed in your community. Even on the sidewalk, however, children need to be supervised and given clear instruction on where they will be traveling. They also need a large area to improve their riding skills.