Plan Your Active Route to School

Practice your walking or rolling route in your downtime

Step 1: Plan your route.

• Use a Drive to 5 map to identify street infrastructure that can support your student along the way.
• Safety and connectivity come first: look for routes with sidewalks, multi-use pathways, bike lanes, Crossing Guards, and quiet streets whenever possible.
• Make it fun! Help your student trace the route or draw it out. This will help them make connections during practice.
• Make it fun for littles! Use this tactile simple map exercise (primary grades) from the Ministry of Education Trinidad and Tobego.

Step 2: Practice!

• Build familiarity: practice often and help your child identify waypoints like signs or buildings, and safe places along the route to build familiarity.
• Practice and talk about challenges: discuss with your child what to do at crossings and other places your child doesn’t yet know.
• Timing: try walking, scootering, and cycling the route to see how much the timing changes.
• Make it fun! Create a scavenger hunt or bingo card with your student – include stop signs, bike racks, crosswalks, and safe places to go for help.
• Make it more fun! Invite a neighbour or friend to join the walk – buddies make the route more interesting and safer, too!