For generations, kids have learned how to ride a bike—a childhood milestone—in driveways, on sidewalks, and in the street. On a recent September day, kindergarteners in Rancho Cucamonga, California, were fitted with helmets and assigned a balance bike. Off they went, propelling themselves with their legs and practicing gliding on the pedal-free bikes. They started and stopped on a circular path outlined by traffic cones. All Kids Bike, a program within a nonprofit, has brought a learn-to-ride curriculum into nearly 2,000 US elementary schools. They've made bike riding part of physical education for children who might otherwise have to wait for an adult or older sibling to teach them, or whose neighborhood and socioeconomic status might stop them from getting the chance, per the AP.
When schools apply for the program, All Kids Bike can pair them with donors that fund the costs. The eight-lesson curriculum gradually moves children from simply walking with and getting comfortable on a properly fitted bike to balancing with both feet off the ground. Then, adults add pedals, and the students progress to full-fledged cycling. The activity is perfect for kindergarten physical-education classes, says Drew Raney, a PE teacher in Wasco, California. For the youngest students, gym class focuses on exploring movement, learning to share space and equipment, following directions, and having fun.
In Seattle, district phys-ed manager Lori Dunn sees learning to ride a bike as more than simply mastering a recreational skill. The process requires balance, core stability, sequencing, and body awareness, she says, with each step building on the one before it. She compares it to typing or keyboarding: Once children learn the skill, it's easier to pick it up later, with practice. The process can also teach children how to handle frustration as they wobble or fall. Hopefully, bike riding will someday be "just like basketball or dodgeball or whatever other sport there is," becoming such a basic skill that it's simply part of PE, per Lisa Weyer, head of the Strider Education Foundation, which operates All Kids Bike.
Some schools also pair the curriculum with other programs to teach road and pedestrian safety and expand access for children with disabilities. The program can also give children a sense of freedom and independence, Weyer says, while getting them away from screens and into active play. And the lessons can stick with students long after the bikes are put away, says Raney. "I have now third graders that are running up and they still remember three years [later], 'That's our bike teacher!'" he notes. More here.
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