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Crossing the Road

Always with a grown-up's hand

Play this lessonNarrated out loud. No account, works offline.

Also available in Spanish. The app stops after two lessons a day and suggests something to do away from the screen.

What it teaches

These are the lines the lesson comes back to, and the ones a child actually remembers afterwards.

Hold the hand. Every road. Every time.

A road is the one place you don't argue.

How it starts

Story time. And I want to say before we start that this is the most important one on this whole shelf, because everything else here can wait until tomorrow and this one cannot.

How the lesson goes

Why grown-ups hold on

  1. Drivers often cannot see you
  2. A car needs a long way to stop
  3. Kids' eyes judge speed differently

At the kerb

  1. Stop at the edge — feet behind the line
  2. Look left, look right, look left again
  3. Listen — you hear cars before you see them

Then, and only then

  1. Walk — don't run
  2. Keep looking while you cross
  3. Never step out from between parked cars

The question at the end

You get to the kerb. What's the very first thing you do?

For the grown-up

Every lesson ends by handing the child something to do off the screen, and telling you what was taught so you can use the same words.

Try this today: Say the crossing steps out loud to a grown-up, in order, without being reminded. Then do it for real at the next road you come to.

Then: Ask them to test you on it again tomorrow.

More in Story Time

The whole library is free

Twenty-four narrated lessons for ages 4 to 9, in English and Spanish. No account, no sign-up, no ads, and nothing your child does in the app ever leaves the device — you can check that yourself with the network tab open. Open the lessons.