Initiated by parents or caregivers, a walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. It can be as simple and informal as several families taking turns walking their children to school, or as structured as a route with meeting points, a timetable and a regularly rotated schedule of volunteers. Once you have an informal walking school bus established among several families, you may want to include more members of your community.
It’s not too late to start a walking school bus in time for Walk to School Day! Download this simple one-pager that explains how to get started and lists important safety considerations.
Walking School Buses
English (PDF) | Chinese (PDF) | Spanish (PDF)
For those of you with older students, you may consider giving them some fun homework before Walk to School Day and encourage them to do it with their families.
Here is a crossword puzzle provided by www.walktoschool.org that you can print and send home. Don’t worry – the answer key is also available!
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to get FREE materials for schools that participate in this year’s Walk to School Day on October 5, 2011.
- Pencils
- Belt Wraps
- Reflective shoe stickers
- 10% off from Sports Basement coupons
- ClifBars
- Maps and more!
Download the Walk to School Day Toolkit (PDF) and send in the request form at the end of the packet by September 16. Supplies are limited and materials are available first come-first served.
In the days and weeks leading up to Walk to School Day, encourage your students to walk to school by distributing these “Frequent Walker/Bicyclist” punch cards. For every day that they walk to school, use a hole puncher to punch a shoeprint. When they have walked ten days, give the student a prize! It doesn’t have to be much – a sticker, recognition, a certificate. Anything to keep them motivated and having fun! Download this template and enter your school or teacher’s name to personalize it. Keep using it all year round to encourage walking and biking to/from school!
The National Center for Safe Routes to School is now accepting applications for 25 mini-grants of $1,000 each. These mini-grants support the goal of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs, which is to enable and encourage children to safely walk and bicycle to school. SRTS programs are implemented nationwide by parents, students, schools, community leaders, and local, state, and tribal governments.
Mini-grants fund activities that range from the nuts and bolts that help start or sustain a program to new ideas that explore the range of benefits of safe walking and bicycling. Selected mini-grant proposals will fit a school’s identified needs and interests around safe walking and bicycling. The mini-grant activities should occur between January 1, 2012, and the end of the Spring 2012 semester. Applications are due Wednesday, October 19, 2011.
