Here’s the perfect game to introduce your toddler to the idea that red means stop and green means go. These two colors represent “stop” and “go” in so many ways, whether traffic rules, figures of speech (“we got the green light”) or alert systems. You can introduce the idea playfully on your next car ride; the only requirement is that your toddler can tell the difference between red and green.

To set up, I cut circles from red and green construction paper and taped them to plastic straws. For older toddlers, you can also add the words STOP and GO as early sight words, You could also make the red shape an octagon instead of a circle, but I kept things on the simplest level for Veronika.

Whenever the car went forward, I asked her to hold up green. “Green means go!” we shouted, and she playfully held up her sign.

Whenever I came to a red light or stop sign, I asked her to hold up red. “Red light! Red means stop!” I told her. This worked especially well during a long stop at a train crossing.

Keep these little Stop and Go signs in the car and play often, and soon your toddler will get the idea.