Work with a trusted adult to plan and carry out a trip without using a car.

Pick Your destination: Pick a place in your community that you go to often. It can be school, a park, or a library!

Find out the best way to get there: Will you get there by walking, biking, or taking public transit? Find out if you can get to where you want to go using one of those forms of transportation. Check out Google Maps’ directions for walking, biking, or public transit. (See the example below.)

The best route to get somewhere by biking, walking, or transit may not be the same route you drive. If you want to walk or bike, ask your trusted adult if the roads have sidewalks or a safe way to bike. Think about if the route may have a lot of traffic when you would use it. If you want to take the bus, find out where the nearest bus stops are to you and to where you are going.

Figure out when you need to leave: If you are walking or biking, you should go when it is easy for people driving to see you. If you are taking the bus, look up the schedule so you know when to show up at the bus stop. A lot of buses now have apps that let you look up when the next bus is coming.

Be safe: If you are walking or biking, follow the rules of the road. If you are walking, stay on the sidewalk and look before crossing the street. If you are biking, make sure that drivers can see you. If you are taking the bus, pay attention to what stop you are getting off at.

Pack your gear: You need to have a way to carry anything you are bringing with you. If you are going to the library, bring a backpack so you can carry books home.

Try it out! Find out how your car-free trip goes. What can you learn for next time?

This is an adaptation of an activity in my book Growing Sustainable Together: Practical Resources for Raising Kind, Resilient, Engaged Children. You can get it from the library, buy it from the publisher, or buy it from independent bookseller Microcosm Publishing.