Signing Times also has a younger children's version which also has a song/video related to transportation and transportation signs. Click here to be taken to amazon where you can rent Baby Signing Times Vol 2
Laurie Berkner is a children's song artist. She has a song "Drive My Car" Click on the link and you will hear the song and your child can see simple corresponding vocabulary. If you'd like to learn more about this artist, then click here. We did this in school on the floor with hand motions. While on the floor we shifted our hips to move forward and back--for "drive my car". Put out arms to the side like a chugging train--for wheels. I used a photo of the world (you could use a globe or better yet an earth beach ball) to show the "world go past." Pressed our foot straight out like stepping on the gas pedal for (you guessed it)--"step on the gas." Opened and closed our hands for "lights go flash." Clapped our hands loudly for "the engine blasts." Pretended to "drive" crazy then brake suddenly for "look out don't crash." Have fun...the kids loved it!!!!!
In the toddler class, we got out big shallow bins and put water and soap in them to play "car wash." *** Incorporate lots of different vehicles, so you can introduce/review lots of transportation vocabulary. Have brushes ready (for scrubbing those dirty cars---consider actually making them dirty with your child before the car wash), spray bottles (for rinsing), towels (for drying), and possibly a blow dryer (pretend or real). In addition to using vehicle vocabulary use action vocabulary as well. Talk about dirty and clean--if your child learns well visually show them a dirty car and a clean car (objects are better than pictures because they can engage with items). If you didn't already know, the more senses you involve in an activity the easier and quicker it is to learn. This car wash activity engaged the kids sense of touch, sight, smell (soap), and hearing.
Additional Play Ideas
(Ideas below taken from http://handsonaswegrow.com/2012/05/activities-vehicles-cars-trucks-trains/)
- Haul corn. Corn kernels and vehicles. Let the hauling begin.
- Tape a maze on your floor and add some numbers. Have your child drive and count their way through the maze.
- Draw out a big maze on the driveway and drive through it!
- Set out some flour to explore and play with. Before long the vehicles will be added in for some hauling and track making, too!
- Build a city of blocks and drive through it.
- Stack block towers, but all the blocks with a dump truck or semi. Count the towers as you’re building them!
- Paint with Vehicles! Add some trucks, tractors, cars, whatever vehicles you have to some paint and paper and compare the tracks that they make!
- Make a learning activity for counting with grain bins and tractors. Use marshmallows to haul and count!
- Simply add a few vehicles to some play dough and make a construction site.
- Be inspired by a favorite book about vehicles and act it out! [such as The Little Blue Truck book. See more vehicle books that we love below!]
- Reuse bubble wrap for a road. Drive some big vehicles on it to hear the Pop!
- Make and indoor activity course and use a big vehicle to take through the course as they do their activities.
- Put together an ice investigation to see if salt or sand makes the ice less slippery for vehicles driving on it.
- Make a ramp from a cardboard box and test out how the cars and trucks make it down.
- Use wagons, or semi trailers, or even dump trucks and experiment to see how much water each vehicle holds.
- Convince your child to clean up! Have a car wash for the toy vehicles! – Famiglia & Seoul ***
- Draw a race track on some paper for some fun play together. – Mommy with Selective Memory
- Use printables to sort your own emergency vehicles! – Taming the Goblin
- A color coded parking lot to match your own toy vehicles to. – A Happy Wanderer
- A very fun sensory activity, a shaving cream car wash. – Lessons Learnt Journal
- Construction sensory activity with construction vehicles and rocks. – Pink and Green Mama
- Use a box to extend train play, make The Sports Enough Tunnel. – Celebrate Every Day With Me
- Another sensory activity that might be better than the sandbox, cloud dough with vehicles. - In Lieu of Preschool
- Counting with trucks! Use dump trucks to see how many dominoes it can hold then count them! – Inspiration Laboratories
- Monster Smash! Add crayons and monster trucks to a cardboard box and create your own Monster rally arena! – Small Potatoes