To really understand how children of kindergarten age are taught about safety on the sidewalk and when crossing crosswalks, we took part in a visit by a police officer to a kindergarten and observed very closely the way they were addressed and the learning content conveyed. In addition, we conducted an interview with the president of the Thurgau Kindergarten Conference, Tanja Kroha, who is a kindergarten teacher herself and was able to contribute valuable experience from everyday kindergarten life.

On this basis, we then developed an integrated overall concept. We divided the learning content into five main chapters and wrote a story based on these chapters. It was important to us that each chapter also works on its own. This means that we don’t have to tell the whole story each time, but can also focus on individual topics that seem particularly important at the time.

With this method, we succeeded in accommodating all learning content in the story. In parallel, we developed the board game in which Simi walks home from kindergarten and experiences many situations. The situations are based 1:1 on the story, which means that the children can find all the learning content on the board. The goal of the game is to be the first to arrive home, but to follow the traffic rules.

On the way, Simi passes several crosswalks that shorten the route, but he can only cross them if he has first drawn all four collectible coins from a small bag. The different collecting coins stand for the four-sounding phrase “warte, luege, lose, laufe” (wait, look, listen, go), which is familiar to children in Thurgau. After all, according to this concept, children at the crosswalk should ensure that they cross the road well and safely.