Themes covered
The main road safety themes to be covered for the Early Years age group can be summarised in this diagram:
To help Early Years children to relate to and remember these five themes, the following child-friendly labels will be used throughout this resource:
| Theme | Child-friendly label |
|---|---|
| Traffic recognition | What’s on the road? |
| Using car seats and wearing seat belts | The car seat click |
| How to behave near traffic | Keep hold! |
| Stop, look and listen | Stop, look and listen |
| Be Bright, Be Seen | Bright is right |
For each of the five themes there are ideas for learning activities, outlined in these teachers’ notes, along with online and printed resources for teachers and children to use. These include posters, online illustrated ‘big book’ style stories, printed stories, a song and an interactive web game. All of these materials can be accessed from the website.
The learning materials and ideas are designed to be used flexibly so that teachers, assistants and parents can use them in ways which suit their circumstances and the needs of their children. The themes and activities present clear, simple messages and can be approached in any order, with ideas which can work as standalones or part of a structured series. There are extension suggestions provided along with full details of learning objectives, curriculum links and resource requirements.
In order to make the resources effective and memorable, themes 2–5 are tied to a fictional character and presented through a short story. This will also help children to relate the messages to their personal experience and allow teachers to provide a hook for the practical activities that follow.
