Mobility

Learning app for getting to school safely

Written by Marion Fehr 14.08.2023

For over ten years now, Max the Badger has been teaching children how to safely navigate traffic. One of the ways he does this is using a fun learning app that teaches kids age four and up about the hazards they need to look out for on the way to school.

The first day of school is often when young children have to walk and pay attention to traffic on their own for the first time. The popular cartoon character Max the Badger has been helping AXA Foundation for Prevention parents and their kids prepare for this for over ten years with games and learning materials developed especially for children.

Practice getting to school with fun games

The Foundation developed a new learning app a few years ago to help kids practice navigating traffic and learn road safety rules in a fun way. Children walk their avatar through traffic while following the rules of the road to meet up with their little buddy Max. During the game, Max the Badger explains road safety to children and teaches them how to deal with certain situations using visual and audio aids.

Suitable for children ages four and up

The learning app, which was developed together with a teacher and traffic instructors from the Winterthur police, is aimed at kids age four and up. Parents can use the app together with their little ones or let them use it on their own. As children learn best through repetition, the app intentionally uses several repetitive exercises. The games are designed specifically for younger children and last five minutes at most so that the kids don’t lose interest and aren’t spending a lot of time on a screen.

Tips for parents on how to use the learning app:

It’s best if you help your child the first time or two they use the app until they can use it by themselves.
The learning app is not meant to replace walking with your child to school and back. Practice walking to school with your child and use the app to prepare and assist you on the walk – don’t rely on it instead of walking the route with your child.
Talk about the situations that come up in the app with your child when you’re out walking. Also talk about situations you’ve experienced while walking together when you use the app with your child. This way your child can apply what they learn from the app to the real world.
To help what they learn go into their long-term memory, children should practice each exercise at least 7 times.

The AXA Foundation for Prevention

At the AXA Foundation for Prevention, we're working hard to make urban mobility safer for everyone.
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3 tips for walking to school and back:

The shortest way is not always the safest

Choose a route that has the least number of street crossings. Practice walking to school with your child numerous times and sometimes squat down to your child’s eye level. This lets you see things from your kid’s perspective so you can recognize any visual barriers they might have. As soon as your child knows their way, you should walk several yards behind them to see if they can do it on their own.

Always stop before you cross a street

Explain to your child that they should always stop, wait and look both ways when at a corner or crosswalk. Children are not good at judging the speed of cars. They need to learn to stand on the sidewalk well back from the curb and wait until the car tires have come to a complete stop before they cross. This also applies to green lights - children should always look first right and then left before crossing the street.

Eye-catching clothing improve visibility

To ensure that drivers can see your child, it’s a good idea to dress them in bold and contrasting colors. Reflective strips, such as on their schoolbags, also make them more visible to drivers.