Jump start your students' safety skills with these short videos, available on the City of Tacoma's Safe Routes to School YouTube Playlist: 

Walking Basics

Traffic Signals

Crossing the Street

How to fit a Helmet

How to fit a Bike

The City of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools educators partnered to create the elementary school pedestrian safety curriculum. This curriculum contains six lesson plans that aim to teach K-5 youth safe walking skills. The curriculum is designed to be taught in elementary PE classes and incorporates PE learning standards while teaching safe walking skills.

Use these materials to teach pedestrian safety in your school or program!

• Tacoma Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Elementary Pedestrian Curriculum
• Parent and guardian Take-home Handout - available in: English, Spanish, Khmer, Vietnamese, Russian, Korean.
• Newsletter copy - to use in school emails and newsletters to communicate about your PE pedestrian curriculum.

• Vocabulary and Pedestrian Rhyme Presentation

• Pedestrian Crossing Rhyme Poster - to mount in your school hallway or classroom(s).
• School Site Walk activity checklist 
• Pedestrian safety videos for youth: Walking Basics, Traffic Signals, Crossing Safety
• Family involvement opportunity - Plan a Walk and Roll to School Day event!

The curriculum uses a kit that includes: two (2) mock roadways with four (4) crosswalks, vocabulary cards, traffic signals cards with handles, a large print of the pedestrian safety rhyme poster, and a binder containing a hard copy of the curriculum. 

If you are a Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) educator, please contact Mary Waterbly, Instructional Facilitator at TPS, to checkout a kit. If you are non-Tacoma Public Schools educator and are interested in teaching the pedestrian safety curriculum, email Cailin Henley, Safe Routes to School Coordinator.  

This curriculum was made possible thanks to a grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. 

The City of Tacoma hosts bicycle rodeos throughout the year as a way to educate youth about basic bike handling and traffic safety skills. A bike rodeo contains a series of stations along a protected course that teach bike skills. Stay tuned as the City is working to create a bike rodeo kit that can be checked out by schools and parent groups!

Additionally, the City of Tacoma pilots Traffic Gardens in partnership with schools and local organizations. Traffic gardens are a mini-scale set of connected streets for youth to practice biking, walking, and actively rolling in a fun, low-stress environment. 

2nd Cycle Community Bike Shop hosts youth program that empower the next generation of Tacoma community members with bike skills and self-reliance. 2nd Cycle offers earn-a-bike courses, summer bike camps, and bicycle outreach leadership opportunities. Visit their website to learn about current bike education opportunities.

Major Taylor Project offers students at participating middle and high schools with weekly after-school rides and bicycle safety and maintenance education. Learn more about the Major Taylor Project and participating schools on Cascade Bicycle Club's Major Taylor Project website. 

Alchemy Skateboarding provides opportunities for youth to learn and grow through skateboarding. This is done through skate camps, leadership programs, and pop up skate parks. Visit their website to see the latest classes and programs being offered.