Transporation Thematic Unit

Transportation Thematic Unit

This is our theme on Transportation, and I got some interesting ideas online and we had a great time learning about different types of transportation and we also had a chance to make some by ourselves!

1.Traffic light game

This is a fun game to play with kids with very little preparation. I cut out three circles and glue them onto popsicle sticks. Then I colored the circles red, yellow and green. I taught them a song “Twinkle Twinkle Traffic light” to help them understand the rules and what each light means. Then when I say green, everyone is supposed to pretend they're driving a car in the room. They are allowed to drive anywhere in the classroom. If I say yellow, they're supposed to go very slow and be careful of other vehicles. When I say red, everyone's supposed to freeze. It's quite fun and it gets them moving as well.

2.Boat project 1

This is the boat project I made with my K2 class. We made a sail boat using milk cartons (it was actually Guava juice, so the students all drank the guava juice before our project. They were quite happy about that) :) After they finished, I cut the milk cartons in half and each child gets half of the carton for their boat. Then I asked them to wrap it with aluminum foil to decorate them. Then, I cut out little triangles for the sail for them to color and attached a straw to them. We also had sail boat race outside in the playground. They're supposed to blow their sailboats from one end to the other end.

3. Boat project 2
This was a project I did with my younger class. We also made sailboats but we made it more simple. I cut out some foam in little squares. Then I asked them what they would like to bring on their boats if they were to go on a trip. I printed out coloring pages for clothes and they colored and cut out the things they want to bring with them. They also decorated their sail and I taped on the straw. In the end, we had a sail boat race outdoor and we all had a lot of fun! :)

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4. Story/ Song- Port Side Pirate Ship
3. I chose this story because we learned about different types of water transportation. The kids love listening to pirate stories and this story is also great because it has a lot of repetition. What's even more attractive about the story is the song is very catchy. The kids were able to sing the song after listening to it a few time. It has an upbeat rhythm and great melody!
   

   

   5. Traffic safety demonstration with eggs :)
   
   
4. I wanted to teach the kids about traffic safety because I want them to learn how to protect themselves on the road. I chose two lessons to focus on, one is the importance of wearing your seat belt and the other one is to wear a helmet when you're riding a scooter or bicycle. I demonstrated by drawing faces on eggs and I drew on daddy, mommy, brother and baby sister.
   

   

   At first, I told them a story about this family and daddy didn't like wearing a seat belt and mommy always wears a seat belt.

 

First,I taped mommy egg on a toy car to symbolize she's wearing a seat belt and I used another toy car to hit mommy's car. Mommy was still taped to the car safely.

 

 

 

                           

Then it's daddy's turn, I put daddy in a ziplock bag and when another toy car hits daddy's car, daddy egg broke. (It's funny to see the expressions of the kids' faces when they see the egg break)

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   Next I told them brother doesn't like wearing a helmet when he rides a bicycle/scooter. This is what happens when he gets in a car accident.
   

   

Then I showed them sister egg who always remembers to wear her helmet. I put the egg in the helmet and dropped it lightly on the ground.

 

 

6.Songs

Wheels on the Bus/ Row Row Row Your Boat/Airplane and Rocket song

Traffic Light (sung to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light,

Round the Corner Shining Bright,

Red means Stop,

Green means Go,

Yellow means go very Slow,

Twinkle Twinkle Shining Bright,

Round the Corner Shining Bright.

7. Paper Airplane

This may seem like an easy project,but it was quite challenging 3 to 4 year old kids. They needed some help folding their own paper airplane, however, it was a great activity for their fine motor skills.

 

                                    Now it's time for some free play!

       

 

9. Field Trip to the Airport: We also went on a field trip to the airport and the kids were really excited to see the planes take off and land. I love going on field trips! :)

 

10. Helicopters

     We made adorable helicopters from milk bottles, large straws and popsicle sticks. First, we painted the bottles for the body of the helicopters. Then we glued on the popsicle sticks for the propellers and put 2 large straws at the bottom for them to stand. They really do look like helicopters! :)

                     

                    

                    

                    

 

 

 

11. My Traffic Safety Booklet

   Since we're learning about "Transportation this month, I wanted to teach my class some traffic signs that they often see on the streets and how to read them because traffic safety is very important. So I chose some signs and explained what they meant. Then they colored and cut out the signs to make their own booklets! :)

 

 

12.  Passport Craft

      In the last week of our theme "Transportation", we learned about the airport and we also made little passports in the class and let the children understand the things you need to take with you when you take the plane! We have a child from Czech Republic, so the children had a chance to see that the passports would look a little different when you're from a different country. ^^

 

13. Magnetic Car

    We made a magnetic car with plastic bottles as the body of the car and use the recycled lids as wheels.  I asked the children to paint the car and I used the hot glue gun to glue on the wheels and the magnets. At last, we had a fun race with our magnetic cars! :)