To prepare for this exercise, you'll first need to cut out a large piece of cardboard and then spray paint it black. Paint yellow stripes down the middle to make it look like a section of road. Cut out two circles -- one red and one green -- from construction paper. Attach these circles to the ends of long craft sticks. Now that you have everything, you can do the exercise. Set the road down in front of you so that it looks like you're on one side of the street. Call a student up and have him ask if he can cross the street. Hold up your red circle and ask the class what red means. Ask the student if he can cross the road. He should respond "no." Repeat the exercise, but this time, hold up the green circle. The student should respond "yes" when you ask him if he can cross. Allow him to cross, and give him a small reward such as a sticker or gold star.
Have the children create their own traffic lights. This will allow them to become very familiar with the lights and their meaning through firsthand work. You'll need red, yellow, green and black construction paper, as well as scissors and paste for the entire room. You'll also need emptied out and cleaned peanut butter jars (or any other plastic jar that has a circular top). First, you'll need to cut rectangular pieces of construction paper for each student. Then show the children how to trace a circle using the tops of the peanut butter jars. Have each student trace and cut out a red, yellow and green circle. Have them paste these circles onto the black rectangles that you handed out earlier. When everyone is finished, go over the meanings of each colored light.
Create red, yellow and green lights for each student -- or have them create their own -- by attaching circles cut from colored construction paper to long craft sticks. Give each student their "traffic lights." Sing the following song to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star":
"Twinkle twinkle traffic light. At the corner shining bright.
Red means stop. Green means go.
Yellow means very, very slow.
Twinkle, twinkle traffic light. On the corner shining bright."
Take a pause after you say what each color means, and raise the light that corresponds with the color you're talking about. Have the students do this with you so that they're participating and learning the definition of each color.
For this game, you'll need to create two traffic lights -- one red and one green -- by attaching circles cut from colored construction paper to long craft sticks. After you make your traffic lights, have the students line up shoulder-to-shoulder in the center of a wide room, or take them outside (if there's not enough room inside). Create space in between yourself and the line of students. When you hold up your green light and simultaneously say "green light," the students can move closer to you. But when you hold up your red light and simultaneously say "red light," the students must stop moving. Whichever student reaches you first gets to be the new traffic director, and call out "red light" or "green light." But if a student moves after you say "red light," they'll have to go back to the starting line. This is to enforce the idea that people don't go during red lights.