School Bus

Time for us to get back into our school routine! With Zachary starting kindergarten it has been a new type of routine but we are all liking it a lot. I have been looking forward to Adelyn getting the one on one time with me for our themed activities. This was the first lesson Adelyn and I did since Zachary started school.  I found the bus image from printables on google images. We printed extra wheels and put a brad through them so that the wheels would go "round and round".  

I think I would like to make another bus but make it raised off of the construction paper with something like cotton balls. The next steps would be to use an exacto knife and slit the door so it opens, find coloring pictures of children which would be cut out and then have them go through the door of the bus. That might be a fun trial craft for myself! 

It's a good set up craft for The Wheels on the Bus song.

Nautical Themes!

My mother made this for a special friend's baby shower! 

Home made Air Show

We are a little bit obsessed with jets in our family. All four of us are fans. When the kids and I play in the backyard in the afternoons we all stop and look up at the sky. We live close to Lackland Air Force Base so we get to see a lot of the jets fly over the house.  I love it.  Most of the time we see the C5s and the F16s.  

So we had a play time with jets. Zachary put on an air show for us.  He had an Thunderbird from the air force and a Blue Angel from the navy.  He also had a Continental jet participate.  As you can see there were many others as well. Mostly he just flew the planes around the house making jet sounds but we had fun.

Transportation

Cars, boats, trains, planes, hot air balloons, covered wagons, horseback, feet!

This broad topic leaves plenty of room for exploration and discussion.  We didn't get to do a lot of the activities listed below but we hope to sometime in the future. We did enjoy a lot of the pretend play.

Book Ideas

           

Freight Train by Donald Crews                                 Flying by Donald Crews

                     

Five Trucks by Brian Floca             The Wheels on the Truck by Steve Metzger

Shows the different trucks             Shows different types of trucks and what they do.        

that help airplanes get ready and take off.

                 

Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe                              Bobby Katz

               

Curious George at the Railroad Station             Berenstain Bears and the Big Road Race

                

Thomas' ABC Book                                           Thomas' Christmas Delivery

                      

Cars 2 Race Around the World     The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

from the Step into Reading series

Go Dog Go by PD Eastman

Many of these ideas come from Pre-school-Plan-It

Imaginative Play and Learn

• Pretend Carwash- have buckets, towels, pretend hoses, and a car
• Pretend Gas Station
• Pretend Airport- Tickets, maps, walkway, seats, luggage
• Chalk Road- draw a road with chalk outside and have the kids drive their cars/bikes on it.
• Maps- Look at maps of the city, state, US, or world. Plan a trip!

                Our Home Made Car Wash                                                  

Taking our class mascot for a ride                                              

Toys You Haven't Pulled out in a While?

Do you rotate toys or have any that have not been touched recently? There's plenty of toys that can get involved in transportation some how.

• Race Cars have a race or need to be fixed.
• Trains
• Potato Heads Go Horseback Riding
• Dolls travel to Australia
• Stuffed Animals in the Construction Yard
• Dinosaurs take the Train
• Blocks- build ramps and tracks for vehicles

Crafts

• Traffic Light- Use construction paper shapes (rectangle, circles, etc) or paints on pre-drawn shapes.
• Paper airplanes
• Car Painting- roll cars through paint on a paper and make tracks.
• Hot Air Balloon Paper Mache
• Covered Wagon- Use box, fabric, Popsicle sticks, paper plates
• Box Vehicles- use old boxes, big and small to make a car, boat, or anything you want. For example, use paper plates for the wheels or steering wheel, etc.

Music

• Take Your Riding in the Car- Listen on You Tube
• Riding in the Car- Music Together Listen on YouTube
• Down By the Station- Fun Song Factory Show
• I've Been Working on the Railroad
• Excavator- Excavator Truck Video
• Air Force Theme Song- Listen and Watch on You Tube
• Row Your Boat

Activities/Science

• Air, water, land- Place vehicles in groups for air, water, and land. Use pictures of each group to help. This came from Countingcoconuts.

• Parachute- sing songs about transportation such as Row Your Boat, Down by the Station, or I've Been Working on the Railroad during parachute play if you have one.
• Transportation Sounds- Make the noise for each form of transportation. 
• Magnetic Road- Draw a road. Tape a magnet to the bottom of a vehicle. Put it on the road and use something else magnetic underneath the paper to make the car go.
• Make a "Stop and Go" sign with one side red and the other green.  Play a game by having children do an activity on the go side and stopping on the stop side. 
• Tape crayons to the bottom of cars and have them drive across paper. See what kind of tracks are made!

Puppet Shows

Getting From Here to There- http://www.preschool-plan-it.com/transportation-theme.html

Well...this COULD have been out transportation. If they were still alive.

Don't Bring Your Dog to the Carwash