~ Ideas for learning about transportation ~
Books
Cars
Trucks
Boats
Airplanes
Trains
Train Activities
Train Fingerplay
This is a choo-choo train
(Bend elbows)
Puffing down the track
(Move arms forward)
Now it's going forward
(Push arms forward)
Now it's going back
(Push arms back)
Now the bell is ringing
(Pretend to ring bell)
Now the whistle blows
(Hold fist near mouth and pretend to blow)
What a lot of noise it makes
Everywhere it goes.
(Cover ears with hands)
Name Trains
[Literacy]
Children glued squares with the letters of their name onto a strip of construction paper to make a name "train". We added a paper engine and drew on
the wheels.
Scissor Skills
[Fine Motor Skills]
Children pretend the scissors are a train, cutting along the railroad tracks (straight, curved & jagged lines). They stop when they
come to the animal sticker.
Train Patterns
[Math]
Children worked in pairs, each choosing one color of the Unifix cubes to work with. The children made an AB pattern: one child added one color
and the other added the next color, taking turns adding to the train.
Airplane Activities
Jet Pilot
[Large Motor]
Children fly around the room when their first initial is called.
Craft Stick Airplanes
[Art]
Children used craft sticks and colored masking tape to create airplanes.
Airplane Counting
[Math]
Each month, we kept track of how many airplanes flew over our playground while we were outside. Whenever the children saw airplanes outside,
we would keep a count in our heads (usually no more than 3 flew over). Then when we went inside, we would add that many airplanes to our chart.
The children were often spotted at the chart counting how many we had seen so far.
Parachutes
[Science]
We made parachutes with a 14-inch square from a plastic trash bag, taped a 16-inch string to each corner with masking tape, and tied all four pieces of
string to a 3/4-inch metal washer. (Children are exploring properties of air.)
Car and Truck Activities
Windshield Wiper Fingerplay
I'm a windshield wiper
(bend arm at elbow with fingers pointing up)
This is how I go
(move arm left and right, pivoting at elbow)
Back and forth, back and forth
(continue back and forth motion)
In the rain and snow.
(continue back and forth motion)
Red Light, Green Light
[Large Motor]
When green light is on, children roll a car around on the floor. When they see the red light, the cars should stop.
Tire Tracks
[Art]
Children dipped the tires of toy cars in paint and rolled it across their paper to make tire tracks. Oriental Trading also has some car stamps that can
be used for this activity.
(Item number IN-56/2906)
Letter Roads
[Literacy]
We used large foam letters. Children drove over the shapes of the letters with toy cars.
Play Dough Tire Tracks
[Fine Motor Skills]
Children flattened out play dough and rolled toy cars and trucks on it to make tire tracks.
Road Counting
[Math]
We took a walk out to the fence by a major road near our school. We took clipboards w/ paper and crayons with us. Children were on the lookout
for red, blue and black cars. Children used colored crayons to record each car they spotted on their paper. I recommend having circles or squares
on their paper for them to mark, which gives them a limit. Otherwise, they will make way too many marks on the paper.
License Plate Game
[Math]
Each child had a turn to be the "driver". A piece of paper with a number written on it was clipped to the driver's back. The child drove around
the table, and parked in his seat. The children find the numeral among their number card sets.
Traffic Light Cookies
[Cooking]
Children mixed red, green and yellow food coloring with white icing, and spread the icing onto the three vanilla wafers to make a traffic light.
Boat Activities
Boats
[Science]
Children dropped a ball of clay into a small tub of water to see if it would float or sink. Next, they formed a boat from the clay and tried to make a boat
that would float. They tried putting animal counters in the boat to see how many the boat would hold without sinking. (Children are exploring density.)
More Activities
Transportation Graph
[Math]
Children chose their favorite mode of transportation from vehicle counters and placed it on the floor graph.
Science Center
[Science]
Ramps with toy cars
Parachute man
Gears
Cars that can be taken apart
Wood or foam airplane gliders
Travel Prop Box
[Dramatic Play]
Suitcase, Travel books, Tickets, Money, Maps, Clothes, Grooming items, Pajamas
Resources
- Transportation Theme Cards: use for pocket charts, flannel boards, graphing labels, matching, games, beginning sounds, etc.
- Transportation Theme Links: my bookmarks on del.icio.us
- The Jolly Bus Line: This-A-Way, That-A-Way CD (Ella Jenkins)
- Rock-A-Motion Choo-Choo: We All Live Together CD Vol. 1 (Greg & Steve)
- Riding in a Car: traditional
- Wheels on the Bus: traditional
- Flying on an Airplane: traditional
- Little Red Caboose: traditional
- Spitfire Prelude and Fugue: William Walton
(Pretend to fly around the room like airplanes during this song.) - Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop: Hans Christian Lumbye
(This song sounds just like a train; line up and move around the room like a train.) - Pacific 231: Movement No. 1: Arthur Honegger
(Another classical song representing a train.)
Music:
Classical Music
