September this year marked the start of my eldest starting school and with it a twice a day school run has become part of our daily routine. We walk on foot to and from school next to a busy main road so road safety is something I’m always talking about with all the children I care for and our Beep Beep! Day has been a great way to reinforce this.
What is Beep Beep! Day?
Beep Beep! Day is organised by the road safety charity Brake and is a fun way to engage kids aged 2 – 7 years old to to take part in road safety activities. The day can be organised by nurseries, childminders, playgroups and infant schools and helps to raise awareness for children, parents and the wider community about protecting children on roads.
The next Beep Beep! Day is taking place on Wednesday 23 November 2016 during Road Safety Week but you can run your event any day of the year.
Our Beep Beep! Day
Last week our amazing Beep Beep! Day Bumper Resource Pack arrived so I put it to one side ready for half term this week when I also had school aged children here as well as my younger Tots.
I was so impressed with the amount and quality of resources in this pack I couldn’t wait to get started with the Tots.
Our pack contained:
- Stickers
- Certificates for each child
- Larger certificate for the setting
- Zak Masks
- Poster to display when our Beep Beep Day is
- Balloons (in traffic lights colours)
- Lots of worksheets and colouring in sheets
- Laminated activity cards
- Large laminated road map
- a hand print poster for children to learn about holding hands
- Road activity poster
- Collection box for donations
There was so much in our pack than rather than have a Beep Beep! Day we’ve been doing ours over the course of half term week which also allowed for different children to get involved.
There’s also plenty of colouring sheets and stickers left over and the laminated resources will last year on year so this is something I will be doing yearly (or more) with the Little Tots as it’s such an important message.
The 4 activity cards are like mini lesson plans and kept the Tots really focussed and engaged with the questions on there as well as the activities such as songs and acting things out like holding hands.
The role playing crossing the road when it’s safe on the road mat was a huge hit and one we will visit over and over again.
The resource pack means all the work has been done for me so no printing, laminating or spending hours searching for resources or thinking up ideas was needed and all ages were able to get involved.
This week I’ve had children here aged 18 months – 5 years old and they’ve all got something out of it and I think I will continue with some next week so my term time only children can also take part.
The “We hold hands” poster is stuck on the door of my playroom now and has been a perfect reminder to my Tots about holding hands before we’ve left for trips out this week. They’ve come back to talk about it throughout the week as well so I think this is a message that is firmly stuck in their heads now so I’m planning to keep it up for awhile.
Even when we haven’t been doing any Beep Beep! Day activities the Little tots have used their new knowledge and understanding during their play and the garage and cars have been played with a lot this week.
The work sheets were really popular with Reception aged children who are enjoying reading and writing at the moment and the younger Tots just enjoyed colouring or starting to shout out “green” or “red” for the colours they knew. 
After a week of activities these two were very pleased to receive certificates and stickers for taking part and I’m so impressed with how much they’ve learnt.
Some of the art work is displayed on the playroom wall at the moment as a reminder of what we’ve talked about and the things we’ve learnt.
There’s also an option for a free email pack by signing up here but I honestly think the Bumper Resource Pack is amazing value for money and you could easily spend a month doing everything contained in the pack.
Don’t forget to follow Brake on Facebook and visit their shop for lots of road safety resources as well as the Beep Beep! Day Bumper Pack which is priced at £12.60 and I feel represents excellent value for money.
(Disclaimer – I was sent a Beep Beep! Day pack in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)