Transportaion -- Prechool & Kindergarten
Air Transportation
Poem
Airplane Art© by Kimberly M. Hutmacher
Zigging, zagging
Way up high
Painting pictures
In the sky!
Read the story "It Looked Like Split Milk." Print the poem "Airplane Art" by Kimberly M. Hutmacher. After reading the poem have the children complete the illustration for the poem.
Click here for a printer friendly version of the poem "Airplane Art."
Art
Tongue Depressor Airplanes
Staple two craft sticks together to form a "t". Have children use craft scraps to decorate the tongue depressor airplanes.
Learning Centers
Runway
In the block area build a runway with long planks or unit blocks. Have wooden or unbreakable model airplanes available for takeoffs and landings.
Airport
A plank laid across a wooden box could make an airplane. Add a steering wheel or dial panel. Propellers can be cut out of cardboard and taped to the edge of the plank. A step can be pushed up to the plane for passengers to get on or off the plane. A wagon or rolling platform can be used to take passengers' luggage to and from the plane.
Airplane
Set up 2 rows of chairs with an aisle between. Section off a galley with a three-way play screen or other room divider. Provide tv dinner trays with play food and cups for the flight attendants to serve to the passengers.
Road Transportation
Fingerplays/Songs
Wheels
Wheels big,
(form big circle with fingers)
Wheels small,
(form little circles with fingers)
Count them one by one
Turning as they're pedaled
(make pedaling motion with hands)
In the springtime sun,
1-2-3-4-5
(count fingers)
Art
Wheels On A Road
Need: small outline of a school bus, long strips of white paper, crayons.
Give each child a long strip of white paper with a small paper schoolbus glued on the left-hand side. Have the children lay the long strip of paper on the floor. Tell the children that this is the road the bus drives on, and ask them to draw all the things that are on each side of the road.
Yellow Bus
Need: bus pattern, yellow paint, sponges, black construction paper.
Before painting have children print their name on the back. Sponge paint your bus yellow. Cut black squares and place on your bus for windows. Color the tires and bottom front bumper black. On a seperate paper ask each child "Where is your bus going?" Write down what the child says.
Car Wheel Painting
Need: small cars and trucks, paint, construction paper.
Provide large sheets of paper and low flat pans of tempera paint (pie tins). Encourage the children to place the small cars and trucks in the paint. They can then make car and truck tracks onto their construction paper.
Traffic Lights
Provide red, yellow, and green construction paper circles, glue, and construction paper for the children to create a traffic light. Contributed by: Carie Summer
Transportation College
Using magazines have children cut out pictures of cars and trucks. Children then glue their pictures onto construction paper
Cars on the go - Transportation Mural
Need: sponges craft glue butchers paper paint textas/crayons
Mural
Adult to draw a road across paper. Allow children to dab car stamps in paint and press onto paper mural. (Stamps need to be made up at home.) . Child can also draw trees with texta/crayons and other surroundings, to finish off the mural.(If done outside there will be less mess to clean up at the end.)
Stamps
Cut out cars shapes from sponges and glue onto an off cut of wood. Allow to dry.(Other transportation stamps could be made to fit with the theme also!) Contributed By: Debbie
Learning Centers
Bus
Set up a bus by lining up chairs in one or two long rows. Provide a steering wheel for the driver. A money bucket and play money. Can use anything round as the steering wheel. A pizza cardboard works great.
Taxi
Set up two rows of chairs side by side to represent a taxi. Provide a steering and hat for the driver. Provide dress-up clothes for the passengers. Make and place a "Taxi" sign on the chairs.
Sand Table
Add play cars and trucks to the sand table. Wet down the sand.
Add gravel and small toy cars and trucks.
Gears
Collect a variety of gears and place on the science table.
Tire Rubber
Cut off several pieces of rubber from old tires. Place the tire rubber pieces on the science table with magnifying glasses.
Car Mechanic
If you have any broken riding toys or vehicle parts(such as wheels, tires) place them outside with tools. The children can experiment with the tools.
Math
Wheel Sequence
Cut out various sized circles from posterboard to represent wheels. Have the children sequence the wheels from largest to smallest.
Math Groups-Car Dice Roll
Need: dice, dice car pattern
Roll a die and count the dots. Then color in that number of dots on your car. Keep playing until all the dots on your car is colored in
The Snack Bus
Need: graham crackers, yellow food coloring, cream cheese, cheeze-it crackers, ritz-bits crackers, cinnamon red- hot candies
Color the cream cheese with yellow food coloring. For each child one graham cracker (2 squares). Take a graham cracker and frost with yellow cream cheese. Lay the graham cracker length wise.
Place 3 Cheeze-It crackers near the top for the windows. Add 2 Ritz-Bits crackers for wheels. Add cinnamon red-hot candies (1 near top right and 1 near bottom left) for the lights. A fun snack for children to make!
Cheese Wheels
Cut cheese slices using a cookie cutter into circle shapes to represent wheels. Top each round cheese slice with raisins or serve with crackers.
Rail Transportation
Art
Train
Using contruction paper rectangles and black circle wheels. Have children print their name on the front of the construction paper rectangle. Decorate the rectangle with many different kinds of spankels. Add 2 black circles for wheels.
Cut out a talk bubble from white paper (shaped like smoke). On the bubble write "I think I can." Ask children to tell you something they would like to do in school. Write their answer on the bubble.
Connect the train boxcars and place an engine in the front. Have the car run up and over your closets, bullentin board etc... With the caption "We know we can."
Water Transportation
Art
Boat Collage
Have children look through magazines and cut out pictures of boats and ships to paste on blue construction paper.
Sailboat
Use a sailboat stencil to draw sailboats onto blue construction paper. Have the children spatter paint onto the sailboat outline with any color of paint they choose. Add triangles cut from paper as sails.
Learning Centers
Ticket Booth
Place in your dramatic play area pictures of ships and travel brochures. Have suitcases available for packing. Add play money to purchase tickets. Set up a ticket booth.
A Boat
Using postal tape outline a boat in the block area. Add a 8 foot line on the floor as the plank of the boat. Offer ideas to the children on how to use the plank ( balancing on one foot, hopping, walking backwards etc.)
Science
Transportation: Sink or Float
Need: water, clay, random items from your classroom
Make a boat shape out of clay and float it on the water. Explain the the children that the boat floats because of it's shape and then crumple the boat into a ball and show how it will sink when it's not in that shape. Ask the children to pick an item from the classroom. Let each child guess whether their item will sink or float and why and then let them drop their item in the water and see if they were write. Make a poster board with a line down the middle that has sink on one side and float on the other and write which ones did which. Contributed By: Lauren.
