Turning Triking and Biking Into Learning

An outdoor classroom trike path or bike path offers a lot more than a simple opportunity for exercise - they’re a great way for children to explore the world around them in a safe environment. At the same time, teachers can turn bike paths into a learning opportunity. Below are a few trike and bike path teaching ideas geared toward early childhood educators that can easily be modified for older children, too.

Alphabet race

Place letters of the alphabet along the trike or bike path, and ask children to ride their bikes or trikes to collect them in order. This activity helps children learn the alphabet while also developing their gross motor skills.

Obstacle course

Set up cones, tunnels, and other obstacles along the bike or trike path, and ask children to navigate through the course. This activity helps children develop their coordination and spatial awareness.

Shape scavenger hunt

Place cut-out shapes (e.g., circles, squares, triangles) along the bike or trike path, and ask children to find and collect them. This activity helps children develop their shape recognition skills while also encouraging physical activity.

Counting challenge

Place numbered signs along the bike or trike path, and ask children to ride their bikes or trikes to each sign and count the number displayed. This activity helps children develop their counting skills and reinforces their understanding of numbers.

Story ride

Create a story that involves different places along the bike or trike path (a trip to the park, or a journey through the jungle), and ask children to ride their bikes or trikes to each location while acting out the story. This activity helps children develop their imagination and storytelling skills.

Nature exploration

Set up a nature scavenger hunt along the path. Leaves, rocks, flowers and sticks are all items children can collect during the hunt. This activity helps children learn about nature and encourages them to explore the environment around them.

Color matching

Place colored squares or circles along the path and ask children to ride their bikes or trikes to each color and match them with corresponding colored items (balls, cones, etc.) This activity helps children develop their color recognition skills and encourages physical activity.

Sensory development

In a custom nature classroom, the bike path itself can be a teaching tool. We’ve designed bike paths using different textures that help foster sensory development in children of all ages.  This gives teachers an opportunity to ask their students to describe how one surface looks and feels different from the other, and it gives students ample opportunities to ask their own questions. 

Crosswalk safety

We’ve also designed bridges and crosswalks, which provide opportunities for teachers to talk about crossing streets, looking for cars, how children can get hurt and how they can and should be aware of their surroundings when outside of the safe confines of the outdoor classroom bike path.

Creativity, science and more

In one of our outdoor classroom design-build projects, we designed a bike path that also had water features incorporated in and around the bike path, which allowed the facility to still use the bike path once the season changed and it wasn’t possible to use the water features any longer. When the water features are turned on in the summer, the children can ride their bikes and trikes through a “car wash” and use their imaginations. When the teachers turn the water off during the colder months, it provides another opportunity for meaningful conversation: “why doesn’t it work in the winter?” 

Every piece of an outdoor learning environment, even the simplest of features, provides an opportunity to discover, share and discuss. 

Discover how we can convert your outdoor space into a valuable asset for learning today.