Preschool Transportation Theme

Explore transportation by air, land, and water!
Use the preschool transportation activities on this page to help you plan your preschool transportation lessons!

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Planning your Transportation Theme

Club Members can download our Transportation Products and Theme Planning Guide for free!
Not a member? Learn More Here

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Download our Free Transportation Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

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Inspire Transportation Creativity

Get your art center ready for all kinds of Transportation creativity. 
Add Transportation Stamps, Pre-made Paper Airplanes, and Stickers (for Decorating), transportation stencils, lots of blue and black construction paper and basic shape cutouts (triangle, circle, rectangle). 

Car Ramp Painting

This is a great activity to do outside. Put a large piece of paper or poster board on a ramp (piece of wood, slide, box, however you want to make it), then provide shallow containers with washable tempera paint. Invite children to dip the wheels of the vehicles in the paint and then roll down the ramp. 

Paint with Boats

Here is some fun process art to explore this week. 
Paint with boats! Simply add a glob of blue paint on heavy paper, then children can sail their plastic boats through the paint. 

Driving through the Mud:
Invitation to Create Brown

Invite your preschooler to mix up colors to create the color brown and then drive vehicles through it to make tracks on paper. See the tutorial on the I Can Make Brown blog post. 

Try this!

3D Vehicle Art

Provide a variety of recyclables for preschoolers to create a vehicle of their choosing. Collect recyclables such as paper towel tubes, pouch food tops, plastic food containers, yogurt cups, cardboard boxes, milk rings, milk caps, milk cartons, straws, and egg cartons. Provide glue and tape for assembling the projects. 

Create a Vehicle from a Box

Provide each student with a medium-large box (something they can sit inside of). Provide markers, paper plates (or circle cut outs for wheels and steering wheel) and glue. Invite students to decorate their box any way they choose. When complete students can pretend to drive their vehicle. 

More Art & Creative Ideas:

​​Transportation Stamping from Lindsey's Preschool Page
​Paper Plate Plane Craft from in the Playroom
​DIY Roads from Artsy Momma
DIY Runway from Catch my Party

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Airport Dramatic Play*

Pack your bags, it's time to explore the Airport!! The Pre-K Printable Fun Airport Dramatic Play Pack makes creating an Airport Dramatic Play Invitation a breeze! Take a closer look at our Airport Pack and how we set it up here.

Available in our Shop!

Many children will be traveling this summer. Allow children to become familiar with the airport and ease some of their fears by transforming your Dramatic Play Area into an Airport. 
​You can do this by adding suitcases, backpacks, maps, airplane personnel dress-up items, Travel Magazines, Brochures, and Tickets to your Dramatic Play Space this week. Extra chairs can become passenger seats. Extend the fun by creating a cardboard plane.

This adorable pretend Airport  was created by Pre-K Fun Community Member Brenda M. of Sweet Smiles Preschool.

Brenda included details in her dramatic play invitation such as a security checkpoint and gate, love the use of a laptop for the gate center!

Preschoolers can practice packing for a trip with luggage and props. Brenda's DIY cockpit looks great!

Car Wash

A Car Wash Dramatic Play invitation is a great addition to your outdoor space during this theme!
You can get all the signs you need in our Car Wash Dramatic Play Pack
Pre-K Printables Club Members can download this product for free inside our shop or member area! Not a member? Find out more 

This pack available in our shop!

This fun DIY Carwash belongs to Pre-K Fun Community Member Paula's Daycare!
​She used shower curtains, pool noodles and leis!

Paula's Daycare

Paula's Daycare

Mechanic Shop

Place play tools, larger play vehicles (like tonka trucks) and jumpsuits in the dramatic play area. Invite children to pretend to be car mechanics working on all of the vehicles. You could even have students build their own cars from cardboard and pretend to fix them.

Train Station

Set up the dramatic play center with a ticket booth, waiting area and a cardboard train. Invite children to pretend they are at a train station. They can buy tickets, waiting for their train, and pretend to travel.

Bus Station

Create a bus from a few large cardboard boxes. Have students pretend that they are driving or riding the bus.

Gas Station and Mini Mart

This is a fun Dramatic Play idea to set up outside. Set up a gas station for your students to fill up their cards, and a mini mart to purchase snacks for their road trips.

Set up a Transportation Center

• Add a variety of Transportation vehicles to your Construction Space this week. Include Cars, Trucks, Planes, Trains, Rocket ships, and Boats.
• Set up an invitation to create garages for vehicles. Provide vehicles in a variety of sizes. Consider having a planning session where students can draft a blueprint of their project and plan what type of materials they will need. Support planning by encouraging students to consider the size of blocks and quantity they will need. **Teacher Tip: Take pictures of their completed projects, place in their portfolio next to their blueprint. ​
• Be sure to encourage literacy by adding books about Traveling, and Vehicles to your space as well. Add Roadways, Signs, and Railroad Tracks. Add a pretend felt Lake for Boats, a Runway for planes. 

Make Ramps

Get brains working hard by inviting preschoolers to build ramps. 
Start by offering a planning stage to encouraging critical thinking and planning skills by inviting children to plan out their ramp. How tall will it be? What materials are needed? What vehicles will the ramp support? How will success be measured?
Next, start building and testing!
If the ramp isn't successful use the opportunity to encourage persistence and practice the scientific process. 
What do you think will happen?
What could you do different next time?
Provide measuring tape and paper to record data. 
Extend the activity: Keep children engaged all week! The next day challenge children to make a longer, wider, taller, or curvier ramp. Can they design a ramp with stops?  Can they design a ramp to make vehicles go faster/slower?

Vehicle Building Challenge

Set out materials that inspire building vehicles. 
Use a variety of materials that can be used in creative ways. Gather items from both your block center and loose parts area as well as recyclables!
This vehicle was built by one of the children from Building Blocks Family Childcare. 

Build a Bridge

Have students use materials in the building center to create a bridge and see if
they can drive their car over it without it falling down

Pattern Block Vehicles

Set out our Transportation pattern block mats that look like different vehicles. Challenge students to follow the pattern to create their own. OR remove the templates and challenge them to use the pattern blocks to create their own vehicle patterns.

Transportation Block Mats in our shop!

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Letters in the Sky*

Invite your preschoolers to practice letter recognition with this fun activity. 
Individualize this activity based on developmental level. Match up lowercase-to-lowercase or uppercase-to-lowercase. 
This activity is included in the PKPF Transportation Activity Pack. ​

Included in our Transportation Activity Pack

Signs Walk

Recognizing environmental print is an important part of preschoolers developing necessary skills for reading. Take a walk around the neighborhood to look for environmental print. Environmental print such as stop signs, store signs, as well as other signs with words and/or symbols are common for children to see and are among the first words they are able to recognize. Consider bringing along a clipboard to record all the signs spotted on your walk. Encourage students to see what signs they can recognize while driving home with their parents. 

What's Your Sign?

After your Signs Walk  invite your preschooler to show what they know with this activity included in our Transportation Activity Pack. 
Use pom poms or dot markers to mark the correct answer or use with clothespins. 

Included in our Transportation Activity Pack

Make Vehicle Sounds

Making vehicle sounds is a great way for preschoolers to exercise the muscles in their mouth and practice many different types of sounds. 
Gather photos of different types of vehicles, invite students to make the sounds of those vehicles. 
Challenge children to change pitch and duration when making sounds.

Car Writing

Have your students use their toy cars to practice forming letters.

Sky Writing

Have your students use toy planes to practice "Writing" letters in the sky.

Car Part Vocabulary

Teach students about the names of different car parts. Provide picture examples or actual examples.

Read Aloud Activity

Explore all different types of trucks and get counting with the book 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee. 
Read this book aloud and follow-up with a fun truck activity. 
Don't have this book? Borrow from your local library or listen to this read aloud
After reading/hearing the story discuss with children...
What was the problem in the story?
Who solved the problem?
How was the problem solved? 

Extension Activity
Challenge children to create a traffic problem in the construction center using blocks and a variety of vehicles. Encourage children to discuss how the problem could be solved. Or they may simply wish to re-enact the story!

Freight Train Pre-K Book Companion

Our Freight Train Pre-K Book Companion pack includes vocabulary review, a book review, discussion questions and printable activity that compliment the book Freight Train by Donald Crews
Pre-K Printable Club Members can visit the shop listing and download for free!

Pre-K Printable Club Members click here to get this for free

Every great lesson plan is full of great books, both new and old.
Here are a few of my favorites for Transportation!

*Transportation in My Neighborhood by Shelly Lyons
​Freight Train by Donald Crews
​Twenty Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
Transportation in Many Cultures by Martha E. Rustad

Sailboat Shape Clip Cards*

Clip cards a fun way to practice shape recognition skills. Pair clip cards with clothespins to support children in developing finger dexterity and hand-eye coordination.  These Sail Shape Clip Cards are ​included in our Transportation Activity Pack

Included in our Transportation Activity Pack!

Measuring Distance

Set up a race with toy cars.
Place masking tape on one end of a room with a hard floor (or do outdoors and use sidewalk chalk) for the starting line and a line on the other end of the room for the finish line. Provide a basket of vehicles. Students select their vehicle and place it on the starting line. When you count to three they launch their vehicle to see which one will go the farthest. 
​Provide measuring tape and paper for children to record data. 

Cars & Keys Color Matching *

Invite your preschooler to practice color matching and sorting skills with this engaging Cars & Keys Color Matching activity found inside the PKPF Transportation Activity Pack. 

Available in our Shop!

Counting Stop Signs

Count the number of stop signs you see when you go out for a walk this week!
This is also a good time to talk about octagons!

Transportation Block Mats

Pattern blocks are great for children developing fine-motor skills and geometry. 
Our Transportation Pattern Block Mat set include 9 different vehicles and 3 different levels of building mats for each vehicle. 

Explore Sign Attributes

This is a great week to look at photos of signs and discuss their attributes.
For example STOP signs are 8-sided octagons. They are red, with white writing.

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Explore Air, Land, and Sea Transportation*

Ready books, Watch videos and look at photos of different types of transportation. Discuss which vehicles are used in the air, on land, or on sea. Keep the exploration going! Use this sorting mat found in our Transportation Activity Pack as an extension activity.

Available in our Shop

Air,  Land,  and Sea Sorting  Bin

This fun transportation Sensory Bin sorting activity was created by reader Kayla Harker! She used her FLISAT table from IKEA to sort transportation vehicles by air, land, and sea!

Photo Credit: Kayla Harker

Making Predictions

Which vehicle will go the farthest?
​ Set up a ramp indoors or out. Provide a vehicles in a variety of shapes and sizes. Provide poster board, chalkboard, or clipboard and paper for recording predictions and results. Students will select two vehicles to roll down the ramp at the same time. Before they release the vehicles ask students to predict which vehicle will go the furthest, record their responses. After the vehicles are released provide chalk (if outdoors) or masking tape (if indoors) for students to mark where the vehicle landed. Record the results. Next, two more children will select vehicles and make predictions. When done invite children to discuss the results. Which vehicle went the furthest? Why? 

Invitation to Design and Build Paper Airplanes

Give students different pieces of paper and challenge them to make an airplane. Test to see how well they fly.

More Transportation Science & Discovery Ideas:

​​Airplane Sensory Bin from My Mundane and Miraculous Life

Transportation Dough Mats* Club Member Only

Pre-K Printables Club Members: use the member exclusive Transportation Dough Mats ​(Found under letter T  in the download area) to support physical development with dough mats that compliment your transportation theme. 

Build a Vehicle

Add take apart vehicles to your learning space. To encourage fine motor development provide hand turn screwdrivers rather than pretend drills that are often included. 

Build with Legos

Work on fine motor skills by setting up an invitation to create vehicles with Lego or Duplo blocks.

Laundry basket Racing

Give little muscles a big workout!
​Pair off children and provide sturdy laundry baskets (or cardboard boxes) to each pair. Children take turns pushing the vehicle and driving the vehicle. Each pair will decide what type their vehicle is. The driver will make the vehicle sounds from inside the basket. 

Fine Motor Fun: Trace & Color

My Trace & Color Activity Pack includes three different scenes perfect for a Transportation Theme. Trace and color a Sailboat, Car, and Rocketship!

Sailboat Racing

Fill your sensory bin (or a small plastic bin) with water, and place small plastic boats inside. Provide turkey basters for each child. Show them how to squeeze the baster to draw up the water, and squeeze it near their boat to propel it around the water.

Wheels on the bus

Songs that contain movement activities like The Wheels on the Bus contain are great for building gross motor skills and coordination.

Wash the Car

Spend some time outside washing the car! Talk about the different parts on the car as you wash them.

Play Red Light, Green Light

Have children line up at one end of the classroom. Turn your back and say green light. Turn around at different intervals and say red light. If you catch students still moving after you said red light. They have to stay in their spot. Play until all students are stuck or one has reached you.

Rules of the Road

Draw roads, stop signs, etc. with chalk on the pavement. Give student larger vehicles to drive. Tell them what they need to do at each sign. Have students start driving on the road. The object of the game is to follow the rules of the road!

Move Like a Vehicle

Have students act like different vehicles. Example: Chug like a train or fly like an airplane.

Fast and slow movement

Listen to Beep, Beep The Little Nash Rambler on Youtube! This is a fun song to practice going slow and fast!

Stoplight Bean Bag Toss

Create a large stoplight using black, red, green, and yellow construction paper. Supply your student with a red, green, and  yellow beanbag. Have them stand a few feet from the stoplight and try to toss each beanbag onto the matching color light.

Community Worker Vehicles

Talk about community workers that use interesting vehicles as part of their jobs. 
Invite a community worker to your program to show off their vehicles. 
​Some ideas: Fire department, trash collectors, police officers, construction. Does a parent have an interesting vehicle they can come and show off? Motorcycle, big truck, electric car, or ATV?

Airport Virtual Field Trip

Take a virtual field trip to an airport on YouTube to learn more about aircraft. 

Traffic Sign Safety

Learning about traffic signs is great for literacy development and even more important for health & safety and interacting in the community. Consider inviting a police officer to your program, or take a field trip, to learn more about how traffic signs help keep people safe.  Understanding traffic signs is especially important for preschoolers that will be attending kindergarten soon. If field trips aren't an option, consider watching this video together as a virtual field trip!

Play a Game Together

Invite preschoolers to play a cooperative racing game. 
This roll and play game to race vehicles. Which color will finish first? 
​This activity is included in our  Transportation Activity Pack. ​​

Family Engagement

• Invite parents that have interesting vehicles or work with interesting vehicles to show off and talk about them.
• Ask parents to donate recyclable materials for creating 3D Vehicle Art
• Invite parents to challenge their children to see how many different types and colors of vehicles they see while driving. Encourage children to share the experience with the group. 

• Spend some time outside washing the car! Talk about the different parts on the car as you wash them.
• As you drive in the car, point out different types of transportation. Do you see plans, trains, or boats?
• Count the number of stop signs you see when you go out for a walk this week! This is also a good time to talk about octagons!
• Stand outside when the sanitation engineer visits this week, in addition to getting a closer look at a garbage truck in action, it's also a great time to thank this amazing community helper!
  

These resources are available FREE to Pre-K Printables Club Members! Not a member? Learn more about our membership!

Transportation Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

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Airport Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00

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Transportation Pattern Block Mats

$3.00

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Car Wash Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00

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Free The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be Book Companion

$0.00

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Freight Train Pre-K Book Companion

$3.00

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Outer Space Activity Pack

$7.00

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