Beautiful weather is here, and there are so many fun things to do outside! One of the best ways to explore the wonders of spring and summer as a family in Columbia is on bicycles. May is National Bike Month, which was established in 1956 to showcase the many benefits of cycling and to encourage newcomers to give bikes a try. Biking is a great form of transportation and exercise – it’s good for cardiovascular health, helps your joints retain mobility, increases strength and flexibility and is a great stress reliever.
Here are some great books, videos and a DVD about biking that will help give little ones the courage and enthusiasm to ride for the first time and that will hopefully complement your family’s outdoor adventures:
Riding a bike for the first time without training wheels can be quite a challenge, and it often takes a bit of time to get used to. In “Froggy Rides a Bike” and “Off We Go!,” Froggy and Mole each need a little help taking off for the first time and maintaining their balance. Luckily, they have friends and family to cheer them on and help them up when they fall. The children’s show/Youtube channel Cocomelon also has a cute video and song that follows YoYo as she bravely learns how to ride so that she can join her friends as they cruise down the street.
Once you get started riding your bike, where would you like to go? What adventures would you like to go on? In “The Best Bike Ride Ever” by James Proimos and Johanna Wright, Bonnie gets on her new bike and just can’t stop riding – over mountains, under a giraffe, up the Statue of Liberty and down the Grand Canyon. And in “Fox and the Bike Ride,” by Corey R. Tabor, Fox is trying to make the annual bike ride with his animal friends more exciting and action-packed, and with a few interesting modifications and detours he turns it into an adventure they’ll never forget. Curious George also gets to have his own special day on two wheels in the DVD, “A Bike Ride Adventure,” And this video from the Caitie’s Classroom Youtube channel also shows the fun of riding around town on your bicycle.
One of my favorite recent book series revolves around Chirri & Chirra, two young Japanese girls who go on magical adventures on their bicycles – in the tall grass, underground, and even under the sea! These picture books feature beautiful, transporting colored pencil, pastel and crayon illustrations by the author, Kaya Doi.
Finally, we travel to the city of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, to find out how they became the “Bicycle Capital of the World” in Allan Drummond’s book, “Pedal Power.” In the 1970s, Amsterdam, like a lot of big cities, was full of cars and the the roads were becoming too dangerous for cyclists. In response, a young mother named Maartje Rutten, joined by her friends and their children, engaged in peaceful protests that spread throughout the Netherlands, promoting measures that would make streets safer for people on bikes.
