7 Car Activities

 Several weeks ago we did a unit on cars but I never got around to blogging about it. Here are some of the activities we did that week. 

1. Car Tracks

We drove the cars through paint and then around the paper to make tracks.

2. Driving Cars Through Different Terrain

I put out trays of different materials (sand, rocks, shaving cream, and wood chips) and the children drove the toy cars through them. During the activity, we talked about which ones were easy to drive through and which were difficult to drive through. 

3. Car Wash

After all those messy activities, our cars needed a good cleaning. We set up a car wash with soapy water and sponges where the children could wash the cars. 

4. Garage

In the playground, we set up a garage where the children could repair bikes. We brought the (toy) tool set out and turned the bikes upside down (because they mostly wanted to work on the wheels). Our mechanics fixed all of the tricycles and shopping carts in the playground! 

5. License Plate Rubbings

I found these old license plates at a flea market. To keep them from moving while the children rubbed, I taped them to the table and then taped the paper over them. The children loved how the numbers "appeared" as they rubbed with their crayons. 

6. Road Maps

 This was probably my favorite activity from the week. I brought in some old road maps that I had at home and opened them up on the floor. After showing the children the roads and how people plan trips using maps, I gave them each a highlighter and let them plan their own road trips. As they worked, they told me about where they were going. Most of the children said were going to visit Grandma or Grandpa or some other family member. Several children planned trips to Disney or to their own homes. They worked on planning the trips for quite a long time. Many of them drew the routes on actual roads while others simply scribbled on the maps. Either way they really enjoyed it and I enjoyed hearing their plans.

7. My Favorite Way to Travel

 I made this chart with pictures of four different ways to travel that I found on the Internet. I wrote each child's name on a circle sticker and let them put it under the picture of their favorite mode of transportation. Then we counted the number of stickers under each picture. Not surprisingly, the airplane got the most votes. 

Trains, Trains, Trains

We have been doing so many train activities over the past week but I haven't had much time to blog so I decided to put five of my favorites in one blog post. 

1. Freight Train

This activity I found at teachpreschool.org. After reading Frieght Train by Donald Crews, we set up this train center on one of our tables. 

I used painters tape to make the track and photo copied a picture of the freght train from the book and taped it to the table. I cut out construction paper rectangles for the train cars and set out a bowl of glass stones that the children put on the bottom of the cars for wheels. Most of the children followed the pattern in the picture when they lined up their train cars. 

2. Shape Trains 

For these trains, I cut lots of shapes out of different colored construction paper. I gave the children glue sticks so that they could create their own trains using the precut shapes. 

We also used painters tape to make a railroad track on the side of our castle and taped the trains onto the track.  

   

3. Cardboard Box Train Cars

 We used shoe boxes and small packing boxes with the top flaps removed for this activity. Each child cut up pieces of construction paper and glued them to their boxes. Our class loves to use scissors so the cutting portion of this activity lasted a long time. We did finally get around to gluing the paper scraps onto the boxes. 

After attaching strings to each box, we tried tying all of the boxes together but the children each wanted their own box. In the end, everyone pulled their own single car train around the room filling it with toys along the way. 

 4. Painter's Tape Train Tracks

We went through a lot of painter's tape this week mainly because of this activity. With the children's help, I put strips of tape on the rug all over the classroom and we drove the toy trains on them. Our track went under chairs, around shelves, and even up the door!

 5. Train Conductor's Hat

I found the directions for making these hats at 4crazykings.blogspot.com. We used construction paper for ours (the children chose their own colors) and we added a band with the child's name across the front. Before cutting and folding the papers, the children colored them with markers. 

Train Buffet

This morning we set up a train buffet for morning snack. Before the children arrived, I used painters tape to make a train track around one of our classroom tables. 

 When it was time to eat, I set out different snacks in bowls around the the track. We told the children that these were stations where they could load their trains. 

 For the trains, I cut the tops off of several egg cartons and cut the bottoms in half lengthwise. When it was time to eat, we gave each child a section of egg carton and showed them how to chug around the track, stop at each station, and load their train with food. 

 The children enjoyed this so much that snack time went on for over half an hour as they returned to the train buffet for seconds and thirds. It was such a big hit that I think we will have to do it again tomorrow!

Train Whistles

These can be made with recycled items that you probably have laying around the house. 

For each whistle, we used:

- 1 toilet paper tube or 1/2 of a paper towel tube 

- 1 small square of wax paper

-1 rubber band

The children decorated their paper towel rolls with markers. When they were finished, I poked a small hole near one end of the roll with scissors. 

We used the rubber band to secure the waxed paper to the same end of the roll that I had poked a hole in. 

We hummed and tooted into the open end of the whistle to make a kazoo sort of noise. We lined up our classroom chairs to make a train and went for a ride while blowing on our new whistles. Just beware, these toys can be loud, especially when a room full of happy children are using them. 

Sailboats

After reading Sail Away by Donald Crews, we made these simple sailboats.

For each sailboat we used:

- one paper plate

- one drinking straw

- one 9" by 6" piece of paper 

- a small lump of air dry clay

First, we poked a hole at each end of the piece of paper and pushed the straw through the holes to make the sail. 

 Then we put the lump of clay in the center of the plate and stuck the sail in it. 

 We didn't wait for the clay to dry because the sails were standing up pretty sturdily and because we were anxious to sail our boats. 

Our sensory table is too small for sailing boats this big so we brought in the wading pool that we use for water play in the summer. 

 I gave each child a straw and showed them how to blow through it to make wind so that the boats would sail. 

 We had lots of fun sailing our boats and even gave our little people a ride. 

Later, we put a plastic plate in the water and put all of the little people on it to see if it would sink. 

 It didn't sink so we added more toys to see how many it would hold...

...until it capsized.