Bikes Outside!

[Guest]

Hi, Has anyone got any good ideas of how to control the amount of time which bikes can be used . I work in a very busy Foundation unit and od course the bikes are like magnets to some children. I try to be fair and remind the children to let others have a turn, but it can be quite time consuming. Is there a simpler solution out there? I would love to hear how it can be manageable.

 

Thanks, Sunshine

[Marion]

Have you tried kitchen timers? When the buzzer goes you have to park up and give someone else a turn

[Alison]

same as Marion we have timers large egg timers the children can take it in turns to hold the timer and its bringing simple maths into the bike play

[Guest]

I made two signs using the word art shape smiley face - the smiley I printed on green A4 paper (green for go) and then if you click on the smiley mouth on the yellow triangle, or is it a square, you can drag the smile into a sad mouth shape. I printed this on red A4 (red for stop). All the children understand that green smiley means 'bikes are open' and when it goes to the red 'sad' face, 'bikes are closed'. Scoot the signs through the laminator and hey presto - problem solved. Why not make several sets whilst you've gone to the trouble of warming up the laminator?

[Guest]

Hi i blow a whistle and wind my hands over and over again just like wind the bobbin up and the children know this means all change, sometimes it works but we just encourage the younger children to chang and let another child have a turn

[hali]

we user egg timers

[Gezabel]

We use something similar to LJW with red and green circles in traffic light style.

When it is changed to red all the 'riders' stop and if someone else would like a turn they go to whichever vehicle they would like and that child then lets them have a turn.

Previously our 'all stop/all change' tactics were not that great, children were getting off the bikes and doing something else and we had bikes sitting empty (albeit for fairly short periods) and we just decided to try something else. Children love it and it works for us

[Guest Wolfie]

Those ideas are really good - I particularly like the "wind the bobbin up" sign, that's really visual for the children..and is the same as the "sub" sign in football so I can relate to that!!

[Guest]

We use a huge big egg timer and a big painted circle with stop and go on it so it can be seen.

[Guest]

we have a bike ticket system - each bike has number on, and on the wall/shed door is a photo of each bike with a detachable numbered ticket next to it. when a child wants a turn on a bike they fetch the correct ticket and we teach them to ask 'can i have a go, please'. With our younger children we keep the rule simple - if someone has the ticket you have to swap. As the children get older they begin to negotiate and accept if child has only just got on they might say 'i'll just have one more ride round'.

[mundia]

We have tried the ticket, timer system but the fact still remained for us that in a tiny playground for 100 children, the use of bikes at all times was impractical and impacted greatly on the quality of other play.

We now have 'bike' slots in playground times, times when each class or group have access to the bikes and that is all that is out at that time. The rest of the time the bikes go away. This isn't ideal, but we had to think practically and safely and the system is fair and better for the children not using bikes who want to skip or play ring games can do so without fear of a bike up their backside.