Get moving on Bike to School Day! Bike to School Day connects communities with many issues such as creating safer and more friendly routes for biking and walking to school, building a sense of community or school spirit, and inspiring families to walk and bike to school more often. Whether or not you have wheels, celebrate this exciting day with movement before, during and after school.
10 Ways to Celebrate Bike to School Day
Before the day, work with your local bike shop to host a bike rodeo to review basic bike equipment and rules of the road.
Organize a bike train and/or walking school bus the day of the event.
Mark routes with the school mascot “foot print” to show directions and build school spirit along the ride.
Decorate the school bike racks with your school colors.
Work with teachers to tally the numbers of students who walked, biked or scootered to school.
Invite fire fighters and law enforcement to give encouragement along the route.
Invite parents and families to participate. They can help chaperone as well as set a good example!
Reward the class that has the greatest percentage of students who walked or biked to school with an active reward such as extra recess!
Do a social media contest! Encourage students to post pictures of themselves biking in their neighborhood to win bike-themed prizes such as helmets, bike bells, bike baskets, water bottles, etc.
Incorporate walking and biking themes into various school subjects:
Art or Computer Class: Create posters promoting Bike to School Day and safe biking messages.
Geography: Create maps of safe walking and biking routes to school and post them on the school website to promote Bike to School Day.
Physical Education: Teach the Bikeology curriculum to educate students about safe biking practices.
Mathematics: Keep activity logs of walking time or steps; calculate speeds and distances, individual and group averages, trends; conduct analyses (e.g. do boys or girls walk more?)
Science: Calculate the reduction in carbon impact of walking and biking to school as compared to vehicle travel. Learn about clean air initiatives and the effect on public health.
Writing: Write press releases and public service announcements to promote Bike to School Day. Write essays or keep a diary about your experiences walking or riding.
Social Sciences: Photograph important things about your community that you notice while walking or riding to school. Anything you’d like to change? What can you do about it?
Health Education: Calculate the number of calories burned when walking and biking to school compared to taking other forms of transportation.
Engage Volunteers
Ask school neighbors (or fire fighter and police officers, as in #6 above) to pass out water, juice, or healthy morning snacks as students bike past on their way to school.
Parents can serve as bike marshals and make sure students are staying safe and on the right path. Parents can also help mark the path (see #3 above) in advance.
When reaching out to your local bike shop to host a bike rodeo, make sure to ask them well in advance so they can prepare for the day. Then ask if they have a logo you can add to your website or newsletter or a banner you can put up at the school for the day to thank them for their help with a little good publicity.
A bike to school program is great for schools to promote active transportation along with a social opportunity for parents and students to connect outside of school hours and allow students to improve their bicycle safety skills.
One great way to encourage students to get active before school is to create a walk-to-school program. Adult chaperones monitor active students as they make their way to school!
Walking is an activity that is easy and accessible to most students, staff and parents and can be made into an engaging, interesting activity in many ways.
Get moving on Bike to School Day! Bike to School Day connects communities with many issues such as creating safer and more friendly routes for biking and walking to school, building a sense of community or school spirit, and inspiring families to walk and bike to school more often. Whether or not you have wheels, celebrate this exciting day with movement before, during and after school.