Be Bright Activity Ideas
Some of these tasks require a selection pack of high vis materials (reflective and fluorescent). Materials (offcuts and factory seconds) may be available free on request from BrightKidz if you are placing an order for other items. Please contact us for more information before you order as terms, pack size and availability varies.
If you do not have the materials, many of the tasks can be done using high visibility products (choose a range of colours). Fluorescent or neon paper (available from good stationers) can be used as a substitute in many activities.
- Pack of fluorescent materials:
- Pack of reflective materials:
- Bright Tube Experiment - Reflectivity in Action
- Reflective for Night Brightness
- By Day
- Test More Reflectors
- Display:
- Collage:
- Be Bright - Why, When and How?
- Seasonal Ideas:
- School Mascot:
- Sticker Designs:
- Stick on Reflectors:
- Choose a theme, eg cycling, Walking Bus, sport, skateboarding.
- Create a design on fluorescent paper for printing onto the reflector sheet.
- Use thin lines rather than big dark areas so you can still see plenty of the material.
- Think about where you would put these and when they would help you to be seen (clue: they are reflective and fluorescent).
- Hold a vote for the favourite design - if you want one design to be printed (250 or more) then ask us about price.
- Competition:
- Website:
Fluorescent materials show up in daytime and show up REALLY well when daylight is fading (towards dusk) or on misty mornings. They are special bright colours (not just yellow).
Q: How many different fluorescent colours can you see in your pack?
Reflective materials show up at night when light falls on them. They reflect the light from car headlights so drivers can see them well. Some reflective materials are silver-grey. Some reflective materials look like shiny plastic. If the shiny plastic reflective materials are also bright fluorescent colours they will show up day, dusk and night.
Q: Can you find the materials in the pack that are fluorescent, reflective or both?
You will need: a poster tube with one sealed end, mini torch, small pieces of reflective material.
Put a piece of reflective material into the sealed bottom of the tube (make sure reflective surface is upwards). Put your head really close to the tube (so no light gets in). Shine a torch into the tube and look inside.
Q: What can you see?
The darkness of the tube is like night and the torch is like car headlights so this shows how reflective materials show up at night when a light is shone onto them.
Q: What do you see if you look in without shining the torch (make sure your head is close so no other light gets in)?
This is like night time when there are no car headlights.
Q: What do reflective materials need to make them show up at night?
Now take the reflector out and shine the torch on it in daylight.
Q: Is it as bright?
This is like the sun shining on it in daytime. it may sparkle a bit but it isn't nearly as bright.
This shows how reflective materials do not work properly in daytime. (You need bright, fluorescent materials to be seen easily in daytime).
You can also do this test in a dark cupboard but it is much more dramatic with the tube - viewers may jump back in surprise at the brightness.
Try testing more items with the tube or in a dark cupboard - look at sports shoes, coats, bags and see how many have reflective trims.
Discuss why it helps you to be safer if you wear or carry something reflective at night.
Create a display for your school about how to be seen and why it is important. Use materials from the pack and information from the catalogue to help with your message: ’fluorescent for day, reflective for night’.
Label a mini high vis waistcoat with the different materials on it. Remember to show lots of different fluorescent colours.
Add photos of students or teachers wearing high vis in daytime and at night. Add a 'with and without high vis' pair of photos.
Create a large collage of two people; one in dark clothes and one with ‘high vis’. You can use this as part of your display. Label the fluorescent parts and reflective parts and show which bits show up in daytime and which at night.
Discuss why it’s good to be bright… drivers can see you three seconds sooner if you wear or carry something reflective at night.
Highlight that it’s also important to be seen in daytime too, especially if daylight is poor (rain, mist, twilight, low bright setting sun).
It’s important all year (we have dull days in summer) but especially in winter when you walk home from school as it’s starting to get dark.
It doesn’t have to be fluorescent yellow… look at different fluorescent material and products in the BrightKidz catalogue (or BrightKidz website) to see a range of fluorescent colours.
Other colours can be brighter, eg fluorescent pink in the countryside (it is the best contrast with colours in nature especially in autumn) or fluorescent orange lifejackets at sea (contrasts with grey and blue of water).
It doesn’t have to be a waistcoat…look at the catalogue for different ‘high vis’ things you can wear or carry.
Q: What other ideas do you have? Do you think it is important that it looks good? Who wears ‘high vis’ for their job?
Make Halloween decorations out of fluorescent, reflective materials to hang from your costume so you can ‘Be Seen at Halloweeen’.
Use fluorescent and reflective materials to make colourful Christmas tree decorations or other festival decorations.
Use a high vis mini waistcoat for your school mascot or a display. A high vis waistcoat on a teddy is also a great mascot for a Walking Bus.
Use blank fluorescent circle stickers to design a fluorescent sticker for your bag.
Plan your design first on plain white paper. Use a thin pen without filling much in otherwise you will lose too much of the brightness.
Put your stickers on bags or coats (not shirts or jumpers) so they will be seen when you are outside. When you walk home later see how your classmates’ stickers show up really well from a distance.
If it is a misty or dull day they will show up especially well.
Take a photo for your display board. Ready printed 'Be Seen' stickers are also available and are very effective stuck on to school bags (where they tend to stay).
Look at the stick-on reflectors on the BrightKidz website (or in the catalogue).
Create your own designs.
Hold a poster competition with the theme: fluorescent for day, reflective for night. Use a popular high vis item as a prize.
Take photos of your work, activities and write a ‘Be Bright’ project report for your school website. (We’d love to know what you are doing too for our new ‘Who’s Bright’ section of our website www.brightkidz.co.uk. We may publish some of your reports and a good quality photo if it is emailed to us and has permission of parents and the photographer).
Younger Children (age 3-5)
- Collage
- Teddy’s Walk:
- Talk about jobs and uniforms:
- Link in with road safety theme:
Create one large or several individual collages with the simple message ‘Be Bright’, rather than ‘fluorescent for day, reflective for night’.
Use both kinds of material and prepare by drawing an outline of a person (tip: draw in all facial features beforehand otherwise the children may make these high vis instead of the clothing!)
Get two teddies; one in the waistcoat and one without. Take the teddies for a walk outside: split the group so half the children go with teddy and half stay to see how bright one is as he goes away. Swap the groups round and repeat. Works best on a dull day!!
Q: Why does a police officer, lollipop man/lady or builder wear bright colours?
Helps children understand being bright helps them to be safe but doesn’t protect them from traffic.
Older Children (age 11+)
- Be more adventurous with the craft materials:
- Science.
Use the fabric pieces to trim a dark bag, hat or scarf. Try sewing a ‘high vis scrunchy’ for girl’s hair using a piece of elastic and the materials.
Look at the two types of reflective material – silver grey (which is made from tiny glass beads) and plastic (called encapsulated microprismatic).
Read the ‘science bits’ in the catalogue.
Cut a piece of the plastic tape sample open so you can see two layers.
Q: Can you see tiny ‘microprisms’?
These are designed to bounce light around and straight back to the source (called ‘retroreflection’). The tape needs a white background so it can bounce the light back out.
