15+ Fun Transportation Activities For Preschoolers

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One of the best ways to teach children about the various modes of transport is by engaging them in transportation activities for preschoolers and toddlers. These activities can range from singing rhymes to making paper planes and boats and visiting a port.

You will often find boats, airplanes, and cars in a toddler’s toy collection. Ask them about these toys, and they might surprise you by giving you the details of each toy.

Point to consider

Transportation classes are the best means to teach children road safety and traffic interaction.

15+ Preschool Transportation Activities

Preschool transportation theme activities can be performed through a bunch of transportation crafts. Here are some fun preschool transportation activities (1):

1. Banana boats

Cut the banana in half, lengthwise, to look like a boat. Now tell the children to add toppings to it. Let them fit as many as they can. If they add too many, some toppings may fall off, teaching them how to accommodate anything in the given space. Why not take them to the nearest harbor and show them real boats? They would learn so much from sailing and rowing to kayaking or even canoeing, who knows.

2. Visit a bike repair shop

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Here, children will get to see different types of bikes as they are repaired. In addition, they can learn about the tools used to make the bikes work again. Once back home, they can start classes for biking or riding a tricycle.

Quick tip

Keep the child away from small vehicle parts, power tools, and dangerous liquids (such as oil, polish, grease, etc.). Ensure they wear gloves and goggles and maintain a safe distance from the vehicles undergoing repair.

3. Visit a car junkyard

Recycling is an important subject that children may learn from a young age. Taking kids to a junkyard would help them understand how various dumped parts of a car can be put to some use by recycling them. You could also take them to a train junkyard, where they spend some time playing in a wagon.

4. Train ride

Take a short trip to a subway. Let children buy their tickets independently and learn how to use it during the train ride. This is one of those social and emotional activities for toddlers that can help them gain exposure and confidence as well.

5. An airport visit

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This activity can be a fun opportunity for the little ones to see how huge planes take off and land. In addition, you may also show them the security measures, duty-free shops, the parked planes, and more. Upon returning home, you can check out some online simulators for your little one to practice riding a plane.

6. Visit a train station

For this activity, you would need to carry some colors and papers. Once you reach the station with children, ask them to sit down and draw pictures of things they see. It can be the engine, train, railway track, seats, vending machine or just about anything. Don’t forget to keep a close watch on them to ensure their safety at all times.

7. Building roads

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In this simple yet informative activity, children can build roads. Grab color papers in black, grey, blue, brown, and green. Use black paper and cut it in the shape of a long road, green to make trees, and brown to make buildings. Now, it’s time to put it all together and have your very own network of roads.

8. Letter activities

Choose a letter every day and come up with a word related to transportation beginning with this letter.

For example, the letter “T” can be used for “Truck” or “Train”. Write this word big and clear and let children learn more about it.

Here is another engaging way to learn about various types of transportation. A teacher shares her experience of organizing an activity that involves both parents and children. She explains, “For this activity, I enlarged lots of different kinds of transportation pictures – skateboards, hot air balloons, blimps, garbage trucks – anything I could find clipart of. I cut red, yellow, and green construction paper 9×12 and folded the pieces in half. I glued the pictures inside the folded paper and put them all in a basket. Then I passed the basket around and each parent/child took one. Then we went around the circle saying the poem. The parent and child would first tell where they would like to go together – then they opened up the paper to show their mode of transportation. Pretty simple – but it gave each child a chance to talk and got parents involved (i).”

9. Transportation books

Make it a routine to read a book that relates to a transportation activity. For example, the book named “Five little monkeys wash the car” by Eileen Chistelow can become your child’s favorite. Another such book would be “Cars and trucks” by David Stewart which has pictures of vehicles drawn in black and white.

10. Transportation tot trays

Make a scenario on a tot tray in connection. Here’s an example: place a number of small boats on the tray and place a container next to it. Now ask the child to keep counting each boat as they pick them up. Tell them to drop it into the container. This is one of those car and road trip activities for toddlers that can help them learn numbers.

11. Candy train craft

This activity is filled with sweets and goodies. Collect a lot of candies to build a train. Use the round candies as wheels, chocolate boxes as bogies, and a caramel stick on top of the train. This will give the children a memorable visual experience and help them learn more about train parts too.

12. Flotilla cottage

Take a large light blue sheet of paper. Ask children to cut a dark blue paper in the shape of waves and paste it on the sheet. Now take some brown paper and let children make boats out of it and stick them on the waves. This craft activity is not just fun but creative as well.

13. Fire engine craft

Image: IStock

Give children a long cardboard box. Ask them to paint it red and paste a ladder on the top (you can make the ladder using white straws). Use black paper to make wheels and draw small orange circles as headlights. Cut out the word FIRE and stick it on the front and back of this vehicle. Your fire brigade is ready.

14. Fruit box mayflower

Take a small brown box or a bucket. Ask children to stick three straws upright in it. Tell them to take a piece of paper and cut out three triangles. Ask them to glue it on the top half of the straw and they would be surprised to see the sailboat that they just made.

15. Airplane craft

Grab a sheet of paper and help your child make planes using them. You may also make many planes in various colors. Now fly your paper planes and see how they land.

16. Painting with toy cars

Painting with toy cars is a fun and creative activity for preschoolers. This activity not only enhances children’s fine motor skills but also introduces them to basic concepts of transportation. It also fosters imagination, creativity, and social interaction in a group setting. This activity teaches preschoolers about movement and coordination and nurtures their creative side.

17. Rocket craft

Rocket craft is an exciting activity for children of all ages. Children can design and assemble rockets using simple materials like cardboard, paper, and paint. This activity enhances children’s fine motor skills as they cut, glue, and decorate. It also sparks creativity as they envision and personalize their spacecraft.

18. Sensory vehicle bin

This activity can help children get used to the feel of vehicles and learn the vocabulary around them. Get a large bin or box and fill one part of it with rice to mimic roads. Fill another part of the box with cotton balls to mimic clouds. Put mini road vehicle toys like cars, buses, and vans on the road and small toy planes and helicopters on the cloud. Play pretend and have your child run their hands through the rice, cotton, and toys to get a full sensory experience and simultaneously learn the names of the vehicles.

19. Miniature car wash

A car wash activity doubles as a sensory activity and teaches children how to maintain vehicles. Set up a station with a tub of soapy water, sponges, and toy cars. This imaginative play will improve your child’s creativity and fine motor skills as they use the sponges to scrub and clean their toys.

Infographic: Modes Of Transportation

Children love to travel, be it by road, train, or air. Educating your toddlers about the various means of transport is essential for promoting their general knowledge. Here is an infographic that provides the attributes of the primary modes of transport to help teach your preschooler.

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

Illustration: Fun Transportation Activities For Preschoolers

Image: Dall·E/MomJunction Design Team

This video is a must-see for anyone looking for creative transportation art, activity and center ideas! Get inspired with several videos in one!

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Theresa BertuzziEarly childhood educator

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