With so many fun ideas for a Transportation Theme in PreK, we keep this theme for two weeks.
Transportation Theme in PreK Sensory Bins
My Transportation Sort Activity fills my sensory bin on week one of the Transportation Theme. I added a couple staples to each card after laminating so that the magnetic fishing pole will pick up the cards to catch and sort. The sorting mats are on a table next to the bin. This activity is also found in my Transportation Bundle.
During the second week of Transportation the sensory bin has water and boats. Students can add the family counters to the boats to see how many people a boat can hold before it sinks.
You can find supplies to create these bins through these Amazon Affiliate links or look locally for similar items. I added the family sorters with the houses because I have not seen that before and want those houses myself for Family Week:
Transportation Fine Motor Centers
The Melissa & Doug Magic Picture Maker was found on clearance at a Michaels store several years ago, so it may be difficult to find. This activity takes quite a bit of fine motor control to work. Generally my students work for a while and then leave what they have put together so that the next student can add on at this point in the year.
After we focus on several letters of the alphabet I have a review week. One activity to review those letters is my Lowercase Alphabet Building Center. I am happy we have the cubes and triangles because I think they make more accurate looking letters for my students. This center is also found in my Alphabet Bundle. Since this was an introduction to using these building tools I called each student over to work with these.
You can find the cubes and triangles in this Amazon Affiliate link:
Transportation Literacy Ideas
Not all centers relate to the transportation theme. During the alphabet letter review week we use AT word puzzles on a table top easel. I found these puzzles at This Reading Mama.
The Stamp and Write Transportation Center involves letters of the alphabet that start different transportation words. My alphabet centers tend to alternate between a specific letter focus and mixed practice like these stamp and write pages.
Transportation Science
A Transportation Theme in PreK is easy to fill with science activities.
A STEM bridge building activity is a hit with my students who are always happy to build something. I laminated photos of sample bridges for students to create and gave them the materials.
A magnifying glass comes in handy for the transportation matching center. These cards have a large and a small matching photo of different types of transportation. I used a bit of sticky tack to keep the small photos still on the cookie sheet.
For the magnet train activity I showed students how to make the train move without touching it with the magnet wand. Students tried to make the train follow the paths with the wand.
Supplies for this activity can be found at these Amazon Affiliate links or locally. My train set is two sets from IKEA that are from when my teens were preschool age:
Transportation Theme in PreK Dramatic Play
Dramatic play matches our Transportation Theme in PreK with the Auto Shop, thanks to Pocket of Preschool. Since these supplies have all been gathered and placed in a bin, all I need to do is pull out the bin and find a good box to paint, cut, tape and add some velcro dots for tires and lights.
Transportation Theme in PreK Things That Go! Class Book
Our main art project is our Things That Go! class book. This is one of my favorite projects each year. I was a bit hesitant about doing it this early in the school year since our Transportation unit usually falls in January, but I was happy with the great results from my students.
The first day each student gets to paint an entire piece of paper one color. This year I chose to give them the choice of red, green, or yellow.
On the second day students were given cotton swabs to paint dots in a different color on their paper. Once this was dry I cut the papers into lots of different shapes and placed the pieces on a large tray.
On the third day students looked over some of the transportation books we have been reading to choose a vehicle to create. Once the pieces were laid out and glued down I had the student dictate a sentence about their creation that I typed up to add to the book page.
Pages were laminated and hole punched to create a class book.
I have added a freebie Things That Go! book cover that has an editable text box to add your class name to the cover of your book. I would love to see your creations. Click on the cover below to open the file. Be sure to download it so that you will be able to edit the text box, which is below the yellow dotted line.
