One of those topics that children learn most naturally is transportation. First with a stroller, being carried around in the family vehicle, and then having their own bike to check out their neighborhood. Transportation is a subject that most children feel curious about. Also, it’s one of the main subjects that children will need to learn as they grow up and gain more independence. These activities to learn about modes of transport will be perfect for your child to know more about this topic in a practical way while having lots of fun, especially if your little one is learning English as a second language, or as a foreign language.
1. Build your own car!
Crafts are usually really interesting for the little ones of the house but can be also quite fun for older children as well. So, no matter how old your little one is, you can try building your own car using recycled materials! This activity is quite simple, and it will be a couple of hours of guaranteed fun. You can find different objects around the house suited for the task. To build your car you can make the wheels out of four old bottle caps, and use a box of tissues to make the vehicle itself. The process is quite simple. Use a couple of old pens to hold the caps together, gluing one cap to each extreme of the pen. You will need to sets of wheels. When you have the two sets, grab a third pen or pencil and glue the center of each wheel set to each extreme of it. This will be the base of your vehicle. Then, glue the box of tissue on top, making sure there’s enough space of the wheels to turn. You can even try cutting semi-circles on the lower part of the tissue cardboard box to fit the wheels. Ask your little one to paint it however he or she likes, and ta-da! You have your own, homemade vehicle! You can even make several different cars using this technique, changing the materials according to what you can find in your home. This way, besides learning the importance of recycling, your child will get to learn about different types of vehicles in a more practical way.
2. Let’s plan a trip: Depending on where you live, your little one might not have the chance to experience all the different type of transportation available in the world, something that’s very common. However, this doesn’t mean that your child can’t learn about other means of transport than the usual ones in your city. On the contrary, this means that you can be more creative when teaching your child about this topic. A cool idea would be to play the role of a travel agent. Using a world map or an earth globe, ask your little one to plan a trip for the family. While doing this, discuss the different types of transportations available worldwide, and try to decide which one is best for a particular part of the trip. For example, if you live in England but are planning a trip to Brazil, going by car would be impossible. You need to take a plane or travel by boat, and you’ll need a car or a train to go to the airport or to the harbor. Your little one can be as imaginative as he or she wants. Also, this could be a great way to reinforce your child’s knowledge about the different countries of the world.
3. Interactive games and songs: if your child is too young for more complicated games, you can try teaching him or her about transportation using different songs and games for children suited to his or her age. For example, the song “Wheels on the bus” is one of children’s favorite since it has a nice rhythm and catchy lyrics, and it’s great to learn about buses. On the other hand, with the song “I Saw A Ship A-Sailing” your little one can learn about those big ships use to transport goods around the world. Another option is to play interactive games found in educational apps for kids, so they can practice their vocabulary, pronunciation and other sets of skills while learning about transportation.
