Road Sign Shapes
What you need
- comfy shoes for walking
How to do it
- On a walk, hold hands and look out for road signs together. Each one is a shape: round, triangle or square.
- At each sign, stop well back from the road and ask what shape it is, then what the picture on it shows: a bike, a person walking, a car.
- Tell them the shapes have jobs: triangles say watch out, round ones say do this, and square ones show the way.
- Count how many of each shape you find before you get back.
Why it matters
Road signs talk in shapes and pictures, so working out what one means is a puzzle they can solve without reading a word.
What they're learning
- Shape words
- Round, triangle and square, on post after post.
- Reading pictures
- A bike on a sign means bikes go this way.
- Stopping back from the road
- Looking from the pavement, never the kerb.
What to look for
Notice them telling you what a sign's picture shows before you ask.
A tip
Hold hands near the road and stop well back from the kerb to look. The blue square signs beside cycle paths have clear, simple pictures to start with.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: look for one shape, like triangles, and stop at every one
Harder: draw the signs you found afterwards and say what each one means
