While a bike ride on city streets can be a blast for kids, for parents it can be a worrying affair watching their kids maneuver around cars and through traffic lights. Of course, the best way for kids to learn the rules of the road is through the first-hand experience, but if kids can get that experience without the actual dangers then that would be an even better, right?

In 15 towns around America, miniature child-scaled villages exist where kids can practice safe biking and walking in a contained, controlled environment. In Asheville, New York, for instance, there is the Chautauqua Children’s Safety Village where more than 26,000 children have visited since the village opened in 2010.

For third through fifth-graders who come to the Chautauqua village to learn about biking, the lesson begins inside, with students reviewing the rules of the road—what you do at railroad tracks, say, or a stop sign. Every student gets a bike helmet and is taught how to properly put it on. The students are then split into two groups: The first stays inside to review the ABCs of biking, checking the air in the tires, the brakes, and the chain. Staff members who have been trained in the village’s curriculum also show students how to adjust the height of the seat, and proper riding posture. (All educators are also trained in CPR and first aid.)

Outside, the second group of students puts education into practice, weaving around small (fake) potholes and stopping at red lights—either on bikes or in mini-cars, which is a quite a funny sight to see. Although more traffic safety villages are popping up around the US, using miniature towns for safety education is nothing new. In fact, the first one was built in Mansfield, Ohio, back in 1937.