Bike Everywhere Month x Clean Air Day: 2021 RECAP

Bike Everywhere Month and Clean Air Day 2021 were a virtual success!

For the second year in a row, our annual Bike Everywhere Month (BEM) and Clean Air Day (CAD) celebrations were hosted virtually. Instead of gathering together in person, kids, families, classrooms, and schools joined in the festivities from their own homes and neighbourhoods.

This year, Bike Everywhere Month and Clean Air Day each reached 190+ schools and families, and actively engaged over 60+ active and sustainable champions across Manitoba and beyond!

Prize winners will be contacted shortly, keep an eye out for an email or message from Green Action Centre!

At the core of BEM 2021, there was an activity kit to support families in learning and practicing safe cycling, while having fun. Kids got to explore creative design, mapping, skill building, knowing your bike, and sharing your ride.

A big thank you to teachers, administrators, parents, and students: despite transitioning from in-person to online classes just around the time of this event, you still got over 4,000 kids active.

BEM 2021 Highlights:

• More families got involved with the event than ever.
• Participants said BEM 2021 helped them learn most about: Physical Activity & Healthy Living, Bike Safety, and Active Transportation.
• A new category prize for social media entries.
• Added 7 new activities to the kit, for a total of 16 activities.

“We as a parents, for nowadays that it is on remote learning, it’s important for us the our kids have a digital screens time-off and biking everywhere helps them to have a physical activity and feels the sunshine… we have our wagon and garbage bags with us to pickup some garbages along the ditches in the road. At least, in their young minds, we are able to teach our kids to love and appreciate our mother Earth.” – A Bike Everywhere Family 

Our favourite part this year was seeing lots of participants encouraging other participants, friends, and family members to join the fun.  No better way to get others involved than inviting and modelling it yourself. 

Though May is over, the activity kit will stay up for anyone to use. You can find the kit here. Share it widely, and let us know what resources you found most helpful!

Bike Everywhere Month could not have happened without the support of our sponsors and partners.

Thanks to the City of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba, and Manitoba Public Insurance.

Another Clean Air Day in the books! This year we had over 80 registrations, with a total of over 4000 kids that participated from 14 different towns and communities. June 2nd was a warm, sunny Wednesday to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. The activity kit this year featured 13 different activities, games, and experiments to learn about air quality and sustainability, including an air quality science experiment, a neighbourhood scavenger hunt, a ‘walking across Canada’ activity, and more.

“Students and their families appreciated the activities and knowledge their kids gained from this event, especially during remote learning. The kids were encouraged to get outside, have fun and learn about our environment and how important it is to make choices to protect it.” – School Administrator

Want to keep Clean Air Day going all year? Access the activity kit here to use the free games and activities throughout the summer and beyond.

“Students sent in their stories of the bubble activity and they were really excited that it worked well. Easy and successful for 7 year olds without a lot of help at home.” – Teacher

Thank you to all of the parents, teachers, administrators, and most of all, students and kids that participated this year. As well, thank you to our sponsors and collaborators for this year’s event: Climate Change Connection, Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Recycle Everywhere, and Fort Whyte Alive. We hope you all have a healthy, active, and green summer!