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Lesson Plans
4 Steps to Road Safety

Students learn about rules at home and at school. But perhaps the most important rules we follow every day are the rules of the road.

Purpose: To help students identify the importance of “4 Steps for Kids” and how they can help stay safer.

Materials: Calendar for recording birthdays, scale for measuring children’s weight, measuring tape for measuring height, crayons or markers, safety pins, 4 Steps for Kids printouts (PDF).

Optional Materials: Four large sheets of chart paper, magazines for cutting out pictures, scissors, glue, and markers.

Preparation: Print enough copies of the appropriate 4 Steps for Kids handouts to match the ages and sizes of your students. (See chart below.)

SAFETY SEAT #CHILD’S AGEWEIGHT or HEIGHTSEAT TYPE AND POSITION
1Before your first birthdayLess than 20 poundsRear-facing infant-only car seat OR convertible seat used in rear-facing position, secured in the back seat of the car.
20–35 poundsConvertible seat used in rear-facing position, secured in the back seat of the car. Look for a child safety seat that is recommended for heavier infants.
2When you are 1, 2, 3, and 420–40 poundsFace forward in a convertible seat OR a forward-facing-only seat OR high-back booster/harness in the back seat of the car.
3When you are 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8Less than 4’9” (57 inches) tallBelt-positioning booster seat (no back) OR high-back belt-positioning booster seat in the back seat of the car.
4When you are 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12More than 4’9” (57 inches) tallMay use an adult seatbelt, but must keep your back against the seat back, your knees bent over the edge of the seat, and your feet flat on the floor in the back seat of the car.
When you are more than 12 years oldMore than 4’9” (57 inches) tallMay sit in the front passenger seat of the car with an adult seatbelt.

Procedure: Work with small groups of students to check height, weight, and ages. Use calendars to help students see when their next birthday will be. Then, using the chart above as your rules’ sheet, guide students to identify their Safety Seat Number. Do they have older or younger siblings, cousins, or friends who have a different Safety Seat Number?

As a group, have students talk about the safety rules their families use for riding in a car.

Give each child his or her proper Safety Seat Number. Help them color and write their safety statistics (age, weight, height) around the number. Then, help them pin their numbers on. As they go through the day, seeing other children in the school, have them announce: “My Safety Seat Number is ______. What’s yours?” This is a good way to have the whole school begin a child safety seat campaign.

Optional Procedure: Glue one Safety Seat Number printout on each of four sheets of chart paper. Then, work with the class to write the statistics (ages, weights and/or heights) for each number. (See chart above.) Have students go through magazines to cut out pictures of children who might fit the statistics and glue these on the chart paper. Place the charts on a bulletin board outside the classroom with the title: “4 Steps for Kids: What’s Your Safety Seat Number?”

Related Family Article: Rules for the Ride: Car Safety

Resources:

Please note—to view documents in PDF format, you must have Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software. If you do not already have this software installed on your computer, please download it from Adobe's Web site.

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Updated on 4/5/2013