Preschool Construction and Building Theme
On this page you'll find a variety of Preschool Construction & Building Activities to add to your own lesson plans.
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Planning your Construction and About Me Theme
Club Members can download all of our Construction and Building Resources and their related Theme Planning Guide for free ! Not a member? Learn More Here
Download our Free Construction and Building Preschool Sample Lesson Plan
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Build a Construction Vehicle
Cut out a variety of shapes from construction paper. Invite children to use different shapes to make their own construction vehicle. have them glue to a piece of white paper so that they can display them.
Cement Photo HolderCreate a cement photo holder by simply pouring cement in paper cups, and adding paper clip then allowing time to dry. Perfect for a keepsake or a gift for parents. Add in a picture or a piece of artwork.
Find more details on how to create this craft on our blog. |
Try this!
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Build Your Own Hard Hat
Use cardboard or paper to create and decorate hard hats
Paint with Nuts and BoltsTry painting with nuts and bolts similar to marble painting!
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Paint with Blocks
Give students a variety of plastic blocks, have them dip in paint and them stamp on
their paper to create a building.
their paper to create a building.
Paint with tools
Give students a variety of tools such as nuts, bolts, hammer, etc.
have them dip in to paint and stamp, roll, etc. on their paper to create a unique piece of artwork!
have them dip in to paint and stamp, roll, etc. on their paper to create a unique piece of artwork!
Build a Bird House
This is a relatively simple building project that parents can do with their preschooler. They will need 7 pieces of wood, nails, and a hammer. Local hardware stores may even have kid building kits with all the pieces they need (some even for free!)
Paint with Rollers
Preschoolers can use rollers to paint blocks, boxes, or try painting the sidewalk outside with water.
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Construction Site
Add construction vehicles, rocks, brown felt for sand, hard hats, vests, and constructions
signs to the dramatic play center. Have children run the construction site. |
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Home Improvement Center
Create a Home Improvement center in your dramatic play space. Add a variety of tools, boxes, Cardboard Blocks, Tool Bags, Paint Brushes. Add a cash register, and paper bags.
The dollar tree hardware section is a great place to stock up on low cost materials.
The dollar tree hardware section is a great place to stock up on low cost materials.
Repair Center
Set up a repair center for preschoolers to build and repair toys.
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Play Home Design Center
Add paint chip samples, blocks, and other related props for children to pretend to plan their home design.
Build a House
Put on a hard hat and Construct houses out of Lego or other interlocking blocks
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Construction Site Small World Play
Set up a tray with sand and rocks, tools, small construction vehicles and people figurines.
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Cardboard Brick Play
Leave out a variety of cardboard bricks in the building and small world center for students to build with this week.
Lincoln Log Construction
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Leave out a set of Lincoln Logs in the Building and Small World Play area this week and invite children to build different houses with them.
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Let's Build Posters*
Add building template posters like the ones from our Let's Build Poster pack to your building space. Invite children to use the templates to construct each type of building.
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Construction Site Vocabulary*
Introduce students to construction-specific vocabulary words by adding word cards with visuals to the literacy center this week.
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Construction Preschool Activity Pack
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Dump Truck Letter Match*
Set out a toy Dump truck. Write letters on craft stones. Using letter cards, have students, flip and find the matching letter rock, and place it inside the dump truck. You can practice matching letter the same letter cases, or upper to lower. For added fun, you can call out a word, and have your student locate the first sound. Children can get extra fine motor practice by using tongs to place the rock in the truck.
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Construction Preschool Activity Pack
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Construction and Building Sort*
Have students sort construction and building related items by vehicles and tools. This helps children practice sorting by class of item an important pre-literacy skill. You can also have students name each item as they choose the picture in order to help build vocabulary.
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Construction Preschool Activity Pack
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Dig It Up Sounds
Write letters on rocks and place into a tray. Give children a letter sound to find and have them dig it up with a construction toy. You could also show them a picture of an item, have them say the item's name, and then find the beginning or ending sound of that word.
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Name Blocks
Create the letters in your name using blocks.
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Let's Meet a Construction Worker Pre-K Book Companion
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Learn more about construction with the fun book Let's Meet a Construction Worker By Bridget Heosi. Pair this book with our Let's Meet a Construction Worker Pre-K Book Companion (member only)! This set includes vocabulary review, discussion questions, extension ideas, and an I Spy at the Construction Site printable game.
Pre-K Printables Club Members: Log in and visit the store listing to download for free. |
Let's Meet a Construction Worker Pre-K Book Companion
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Mighty, Mighty Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Hello, World! Construction Site by Jill McDonald
Construction by Sally Sutton
Pete the Car Construction Destruction by James Dean
Let's Meet a Construction Worker by Bridget Heos
Hello, World! Construction Site by Jill McDonald
Construction by Sally Sutton
Pete the Car Construction Destruction by James Dean
Let's Meet a Construction Worker by Bridget Heos
Construction Sign Shape Match*Set up a bin with black beans, laminated pictures of construction signs, and diggers. Have children dig up the signs and then match them to the correct shape.
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack |
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack
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Tool Measure
Use our set of tool measuring clip cards*, or bring in real tools and have children measure each tool using unifix cubes. Talk about which tool is longest and which is shortest.
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack |
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack
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Construction Counting CardsUse construction themed counting cards. Have students count the construction themed items and clip the number of the correct answer.
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack |
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack
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Load it Up
Give children a number. Have them put that number of rocks into a loader and load them into the back of dump truck. You could even label the dump trucks with dots to represent the number so that students are practicing matching the numeral, dots, and counting out the correct number.
Roll and Graph*
Have children roll the dice and then color in one square on their chart under the picture of that tool to practice graphing skills
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack |
Included in our Construction and Building Preschool Activity Pack
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Weighing Rocks
Have students gather a variety of different rocks. Weigh each to see which one weighs the most. Have students make predictions about the rocks weights and practice using the scale.
Fill Up The Truck
Gather various sizes of toy dump trucks. Give children a 1 cup measuring scoop. Have them scoop sand into the dump trucks and count how many scoops it takes to fill up the dump truck. This is a great way to introduce them to volume. You could also have them repeat with rocks and compare measurements.
Traffic Cone Shapes
Talk about the difference between a cone and a triangle, see if students can find other examples of a cone, this is a great introduction to 3D shapes.
Wet Cement OobleckUsing the recipe for wet cement oobleck have students practice writing letters, numbers, or their name. Alternative: Add sand to your tray and construction themed letter cards. Have students practice writing letters in the sand with their finger or a paintbrush.
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How Much Can It Hold
Challenge students to build a building using a specific set of materials (recycled items, marshmallows and toothpicks, etc.) Test out each building to see how much weight it can hold.
Magnet Powered Construction Vehicles
Add magnets to the top of your construction vehicles. Give each child a magnet and have them make the vehicle move by placing the opposite poles of the magnets next to each other.
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Hammer It
Gather a few different objects that children can hammer golf tees into. Some examples include:Styrofoam, watermelon, or cardboard boxes. Have children hammer golf tees into each item and discuss which one was hardest to hammer into and which was easiest. Make predictions about which one will be easiest and discuss why.
3 Little Pigs Houses STEM*
Read the 3 Little Pigs then pick 3 different building materials from the classroom. Gather items like sticks, marshmallows, blocks etc. Predict which of the three will be the strongest and which will be the weakest. Build and test your theories!
Rock Sort - Fine Motor
Set up a container filled with small, medium, and large rocks. Set out containers labeled small, medium, and large. Give students tongs and have them sort the rocks by size. This is also great pre-math skill practice!
Hammering Practice-Fine Motor
Set out pieces of wood, provide students with safety goggles, and help students practice hammering nails into a piece of wood. Make sure to provide plenty of supervision and one on one support. You could also do this activity, by switching out the wood and nails and using Styrofoam and golf tees.
Building with Tool Sets-Fine Motor
Have students practice their fine motor skills using tools to put items together.
Construction Play Dough Tray-Fine Motor
Set out an invitation to play with brown play dough, small construction vehicles, rocks, craft sticks, and more.
Construction Sensory Bin-Fine Motor
Add sand, dirt, rocks, toy construction vehicles to a sensory bin. Have children use the vehicles to dig and move around the objects. You can also provide tongs or scoops to use in the bin as well.
Run a Construction Site- Gross Motor
Place out diggers, dump trucks, construction signs, vests, and hard hats. Have students work on a construction site by pushing around the trucks, filling them with the diggers, having some of the children act as flaggers or other construction workers. Roll and act out activity?
Rock Toss- Gross Motor
Have students use small rocks or bean bags and toss them into the back of a toy dump truck.
Construction Yoga-Gross Motor
"Set up a pirate obstacle course for children to go through. Some ideas for the course include:
-Balance beams as planks
-Scooter boards as dinghies
-Ramps as ship gangplanks
-Rubber circles as stepping stones
-sandbox as quick sand "
-Balance beams as planks
-Scooter boards as dinghies
-Ramps as ship gangplanks
-Rubber circles as stepping stones
-sandbox as quick sand "
Drive Around The Construction Site-Gross Motor
Put down different lines on the floor for children to follow using painters tape or outside with chalk. Give each child a toy construction vehicle and have them drive the vehicles along the lines.
Build Block Relay-Good Motor
Have children line up on one side. The child at the front of the line, grabs a wooden block, runs to the other side and starts a building. They run back and the next child grabs a block, runs down and adds their block to the building.
Cooperative City Build
Have each child decorate a cereal box like a building and then work together to set up their city. They can also build roads and place them around their town.
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Visit a Construction or Building Site
If you have contacts in the area, see if you are able to schedule a quick visit to a construction or building site so that students can witness the work first hand!
Teamwork Build
Give children a building challenge and have them work together to complete it. It could be building a house out or recycled materials or building the largest tower only certain materials. Allow students to practice teamwork as they build.
Sign Identification
Teach students what different construction signs mean and talk about how we can stay safe by following the signs.
Tool Safety
Talk about tool safety with children.
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Guess the Tool Game-Play a Game Together
Describe a tool and have children try to figure out what tool it is. This would work well for a circle game!
You could even have them wear blindfolds so that they could touch the tool before guessing.
You could even have them wear blindfolds so that they could touch the tool before guessing.
Play a Game Together: Construction Sign Scavenger Hunt
Place different construction signs around the classroom or outside.
Give each student a sheet with the signs to look for. Have students work with a partner to complete the activity.
Give each student a sheet with the signs to look for. Have students work with a partner to complete the activity.
Classroom Management and Parent Engagement Ideas for your Program
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