Otto The Auto
The Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education's most popular school program for younger children is - "Otto the Auto!" "Otto" standing three feet tall, is a remote-controlled talking car that engages children in fun and memorable traffic safety exercises. Interacting verbally and through animated reactions, "Otto" teaches the importance of buckling seat belts, sitting in child safety seats, wearing bicycle helmets and looking all ways before crossing the street. Safety Service Managers and "Otto" travel to schools and community events throughout the Mid-Atlantic territory.
To ensure an educational and memorable Otto presentation, please consider the following:
- Otto works best in groups of 50 children or less. This allows more children to interact with Otto and helps keep all children engaged in the safety presentation.
- Although children ages 4-7 are the ideal audience for Otto, there are some opportunities for slightly older children to benefit from the presentation as well.
- Otto needs a relatively small area to operate, but a gymnasium or large open room enables Otto to move about more freely.
- To effectively operate Otto, the Mid-Atlantic Foundation employee needs an area where they can be out of sight of the children, yet still be able to view Otto and most of the children.
- Children should be age/grade grouped for all presentations.
- A teacher or administrator from the school, who introduces Otto as a friend, is needed to get the program started, to ensure the children stay a safe distance from Otto, and to help call on the children when Otto asks a question.
Schools with the AAA School Safety Patrol program can schedule Otto presentations to help promote their patrol program. Introducing AAA School Safety Patrollers during the presentation and having them interact with Otto is an effective way to garner support for the patrol program from the entire student body.
For additional information or to schedule a presentation, with a Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education
Safety Services Manager in your area, please refer to the Contacts page under Foundation.
Printable Otto Coloring Page
Click here to purchase the Otto the Auto DVD including videos on wearing seat belts, being seen in traffic, pedestrian safety, bike safety and school bus safety.