Weekly Walking/Wheeling
Purpose:
To encourage students to walk or wheel to school on a certain day of each week (e.g., Walking Wednesday).
Description:
The idea of a Weekly Walking/Wheeling program is to designate one day per week to encourage walking or wheeling to school. Some schools opt for a less frequent schedule, e.g., bi-weekly or monthly. Having a regular walking and wheeling event keeps the importance of physical activity top-of-mind for students throughout the school year. Weekly Walking/Wheeling also complements other programs like Walking School Buses/Bike Trains or special events such as Walk and Wheel to School Days.
Some ideas for encouraging students to walk/wheel on event day: (1) provide stickers to each student who walks/wheels that day; (2) create a highly-visible collective art piece that celebrates the students who walked or wheeled to school, e.g., Greening Tree; (3) hand out a certificate, award or some kind or prize to the class with the greatest number of students who walked or wheeled.
To make a Weekly Walking/Wheeling program inclusive to all students, even those who drive to school, you could count students as walkers/wheelers if they park at least five minutes away from school and walk for the last part of the school journey (Drive to Five). Some schools also run group walking activities during recess to give bussed students the opportunity to participate too.
What you will need:
Materials and content for program promotion, e.g., supplies to make posters, content for school newsletter and morning announcements. You might also need stickers, certificates, awards and/or prizes.
Help:
It works well if a teacher, school administrator, parent, or community member takes on a lead coordinator role and works with other school staff, parents/caregivers to organize and promote the event each week. Students can help with designing posters, writing announcements, and graphing a tally of the number of people who walked and wheeled.
Resources:
“23 quick ideas for your Walking Wednesdays Club” by Green Action Centre
Walking & Wheeling Campaign Resources by Active & Safe Routes to School (ASRTS)
Chapter 6 of Encouragement Activity Guide by Iowa Safe Routes to School (step by step guide including flier, task list, email templates and budget tables)