School buses, trains, fire engines, trucks, boats, planes. Many children are fascinated by transportation. But how do they begin to learn about public transit?

King County Metro is helping build the next generation of transit riders by encouraging young people to feel confident, curious, and connected to public transportation from an early age.

Earlier this year, Metro’s Strategic Communications team reached out to 4Culture with a new opportunity for artist engagement: transit-focused play mats designed for its youngest audience yet.

The project complements the work of Metro’s Youth Mobility Team, which provides free, interactive curriculum for students from second grade through high school. The curriculum introduces the basics of riding transit, including safety, route navigation, and sustainability.

Artists Romson Bustillo and Lara Kaminoff each designed a 4-foot by 6-foot play mat that builds familiarity with transit while inviting storytelling and exploration. Their bright, joyful designs feature roadways, bus and bike lanes, along with references to local landmarks, light rail, buses, water taxis, and regional geography.

Bustillo, an artist and educator, brings a layered visual language rich with cultural and historical symbolism to his design. “The patterns reference stylized PNW flora, fauna, and human beings to encourage discovery,” he says. “I wanted kids to be able to clearly identify certain things within the landscape while at the same time leaving plenty of room for imaginative play.”

Kaminoff is a freelance illustrator, educator, and cartoonist who believes art can inspire bigger, kinder stories, a sensibility reflected in the playful world she created. “When kids play on the mat, I hope they feel connected and ready to blaze their own trails through this little bug world and beyond,” she says.

Metro produced 500 play mats of each design, which are now being distributed free of charge to preschools, libraries, recreation centers, and community organizations across King County.

Contact if your youth-serving organization is interested in receiving one.

Through color, storytelling, and play, the mats offer some of King County’s youngest riders an early introduction to the transit system they may one day navigate on their own. Curiosity is where familiarity begins.

Special thanks to our young models, the children of 4Culture staff members Selina Hunstiger and Guy Merrill.