Comprehensive Activity Guide for Teaching Transportation in Pre-K
Transportation is one of my favorite thematic units and such a great one to use year-round too! Read on for a truly comprehensive activity guide for teaching transportation in your Pre-K classroom.
Transportation Activities for Pre-K
Target Pre-K standards through activities based around art, books, crafts, dramatic play, music, and STEM all while having so much fun! Confidently use these activities anytime throughout the year for exciting, hands-on learning experiences!
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Art
Incorporate sensory experiences into learning to foster creativity, encourage critical thinking, build language skills, and target fine motor skills.
Slide Car Painting
Your little ones will LOVE this activity!
What you need:
- Plastic slide
- Washable paint
- Toy vehicles
- Optional: craft paper & tape
How to:
- Squirt colored washable paint at the top of the slide (use as many colors as you’d like!)
- Push toy vehicles down the slide
HINT: use paper on the slide for less mess and an easy take-home option!
Optional next step:
Take this art activity a step further and take the messy cars to the car wash! Put a few drops of dish soap and water into a large container, then let your little ones problem-solve about how to get all of the little nooks and crannies of the cars clean.
& it’s a win-win because most of the cleanup will be done for you!
Train Paint
Let your little ones have fun creating their own train.
Let creative juices flow or use a little more structure and add this activity to your math lessons about patterns.
You’ll be amazed how each page turns out uniquely. Some will stamp the trains in a straight line, others will be curved, some will have just a couple of colors used repetitively while others will display all of the colors of the rainbow. This art activity is perfect for fostering imagination while focusing on transportation in your Pre-K classroom!
What you need:
- Several kitchen sponges (cut in half to make them more appropriately sized for little hands)
- Washable paint
- Large pieces of paper
- Black dots or stickers
- Glue
How to:
- Lightly press the sponge into one color of paint then press it onto the paper
- Continue until the page is full or the child decides their train is complete
- Add black dots or stickers for the train’s wheels (use glue if needed)
Hang the dried trains in your classroom or send them home as a happy surprise for parents!
Books
Books are a great way to teach transportation in Pre-K while you keep learning interactive and fun for little minds.
Choose transportation themed books that incorporate interesting features like flaps, different textures, and rhyming words keep the engagement levels high and giggles rolling!
Peek-a-Flap DIG! by Jaye Garnett
This interactive book is great for encouraging increased motor and vocabulary skills as children are introduced to different tools and trucks that help build roads. Flaps and peek-a-boo holes are an added bonus for littles!
Bulldozer’s Shapes: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Grab this book to help teach important math concepts while reinforcing transportation-specific vocabulary. Little ones start to understand that shapes occur in real life as they watch Bulldozer circle around, move triangles of dirt, and more!
Find these and more of my favorite transportation books in my Amazon Storefront!
Crafts
Crafting is also a great way to develop fine motor skills for preschoolers. They will work on following directions and participating in structured activities while participating in crafts.
School Bus Name Craft
This bus name craft is a great stand-alone activity or the perfect companion for any bus book.
Use simple shapes like rectangles, squares, and circles to make this craft. Easily differentiate this activity through tracing or independently writing names. Add each child’s picture for an added special touch of personalization.
Proudly display the completed buses on a bulletin board when you’re done!
The Bears on the Bus
I happily grab my favorite bear manipulatives by Learning Resources any chance I get!
Practice counting and building ten-frames with this math activity pack. It includes an interactive reader, a ten-frame counting mat with number and ten-frame cards, counting strips, and ten-frame cut & glue worksheets.
It’s a part of the Bear math & literacy bundle too (get 9 other bear activities for lots more fun and learning!)
Dramatic Play
Dramatic play is a great way for little ones to learn conflict resolution, creativity, and problem-solving with peers.
This fire truck tent is the perfect addition to your centers. Boys and girls can practice working together to save the day! It pops up for easy prep and stores away quickly when it’s time to clean up.
This construction dress-up set includes a hat, vest, and tool bag stocked with tools to encourage your little ones to put all that they know about construction vehicles to action!
Music
Music helps little minds make connections between their body and mind while targeting motor, language, and literacy skills.
Alphabet Transport by Bounce Patrol – Kids Songs
Kiddos practice the alphabet while learning about different vehicles with a fun beat.
Ridin’ on the Bus by Jack Hartmann
Kids go wild over this silly twist on the classic “Wheels on the Bus” by the ever-famous Jack Hartmann.
STEM
Pre-K STEM is all about exploration and hypothesizing!
Car Magnet Activity FREEBIE
You know preschoolers are amazed by magnets. This FREEBIE is a great STEM addition to your transportation theme!
What you need:
- Paper plate
- Paper cars
- Paper clips
- Magnetic wands
- Optional: black paint, crayon, or maker
How to:
- Download the freebie
- Cut and fold each set of cars
- Slide 2 paper clips onto the base of the cars
- Grab your plate and color/paint it black or leave it white!
- Place the cars on top of the plate
- Use the magnetic wand underneath to move the car around
Encourage your little minds to make hypotheses:
Which way will the car move next?
How is the car staying on top of the plate?
What happens if we take the wand away?
Confidently take your transportation unit UP & AWAY with these hands-on activities this year!
You might also be interested in:
More resources to help you teach transportation in Pre-K
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