Mommy School- Transportation Unit

Welcome to the forth unit of Mommy School!
You can read all about the purpose of this program, along with my goals and previous posts here.Mommy school as been working out well at our house. We still have a set time for it each day, after nap time. It lasts up to 45 minutes, some days only about 20 minutes.
The key for me is to write what we we’re doing each day in my planner.You can also see other fun and purposeful play activities on our Mommy School Pinterest board.

TRANSPORTATION

{Things That Go}*This theme will last two weeks*

Learning all about things that go.

Recognizing different methods of transportation and being able to identify them.

Vocabulary:

Train / Car / Truck / Bus / Airplane / Tractor / Bike / Boat

MAKE SURE TO HEAD OVER TO EMILY’S BLOG FOR LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES

Counting/ Colors/ Alphabet:
Where is the car? How many wheels does the car have? *Point to the wheels with your child*

Show me the train. What noise does the train make? CHOO CHOO =-)

Remember, modeling is crucial.

What I love about this unit is how there are so many real life experiences you can share with your child while teaching the unit. We have construction behind our house, so we often go to the window and talking about the trucks and tractors digging. Every time we go outside we look for trucks, cars, busses and bikes.

The Little Engine that Could / The Little Red Caboose / Away We Go /

Toot Toot Beep Beep / Trucks / Hello Baby: On The Go / Little Blue Truck / Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

I’m a Little Airplane

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Wheels on the Bus

More songs can be found on Preschool Rainbow

This theme fit perfectly into a little field trip the mini and I took to Kiddie Park, here in San Antonio.

We took a train ride to the park, which AG loved! We went over water, through a tunnel and saw animals and much more. At the kiddie park there were miniature rides for the kids. I really didn’t think AG would go on any of the rides but she did. You can tell by the look on her face she was VERY FOCUSED (maybe a little uneasy) but there were no tears shed. It was hilarious because she would look like this the entire time and then when she would get close to me (as I was THAT mom, cheering for her and clapping) she would crack a smile. But she didn’t move a bone in that little body. I wish I had it on video!

Of course transportation theme means we can do airplane everyday! We’ve been doing this daily since she was a baby, I think she loves it as much as I do!

Puzzles:
I found this Melissa and Doug puzzle at Target. When we do it, we talk about the different objects, where they are and the sounds they make (some of them.)

Traffic Light

I cut out the light and circles out of construction paper.
AG helped me glue them down. Then I gave her pom pons and asked her to match them.
This took a while before she got the hang of it, but eventually she did. This was also a great opportunity to teach colors and shapes.

This week we will be making an airplane out of popsicle sticks, finger paining the ocean with a handprint boat and much more. Make sure to follow me on IG to see Mommy School in action. I have also pinned a lot of activities to our Mommy School board.

Sensory Play:
If you’re new to sensory bins and sensory play, read this fabulous article to see why it’s so important.

Sensory Bin:

I want to note that while the sensory bin is open, I never take my eyes off AG. I am sitting next to her the entire time. Items in the sensory bin can be a choking hazard and a child should never be left along with them.

This week I filled the bin with colored rice, car tracks, wooden cars and a bin with tissue paper and cotton balls and an airplane (representing the sky.)

To make the rice, all you need is white rice, rubbing alcohol and food coloring. Put the white rice in a large bowl, ad a few drops of rubbing alcohol (just three drops for about 4 cups of rice), mix the rice in the rubbing alcohol. Last, add the food coloring. I used over 10 drops for my rice. Just mix it until the rice is coated. I lined a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and pour the rice on top for it to dry. I left it out overnight.

Snacks:

Graham Cracker Stoplight

*with frosting and jelly beans, can definitely be made healthier with oranges, strawberry and pineapple*

Apple Boat make with an apple, pretzel stick and fruit leather

Apple Buggy made with an apple and grapes as wheels

Graham Cracker Train with grapes as wheels

I have more fun snacks planned for this week that I will make sure to share on IG!

Play Trains.com

Homeschool Creations– great printables and activities

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids

Here is how most of our lessons looked:
Books- 2 per day, (both were read at least twice.) I always read the book through first and read it again for further comprehension. On the second read, I ask questions and talk about what is on some of the pages. I ask her to point lots of different things.
Song- 2 per day.
Craft/ Activity: Coloring, painting, creating.
Sensory Bin Play: This is what lasts the longest with our lessons.I kept the bin, puzzles and games out of her play areas. I only bring them out when it was time for our Mommy School time. I wanted them to be special, something she looked forward to and didn’t have at her fingertips all day.

Comments

Sarah @ The Not Quite Military Wife says

February 25, 2014 at 1:58 pm

This is great!! I can't wait to start a mommy school with my daughter! What age do you recommend starting? My daughter is 13 months and seems a bit young for some books and activities.

Melissa Droegemueller says

February 26, 2014 at 7:24 pm

I love the Pom Pom sorting on the stoplight! And the snacks are too cute. 🙂

Maria says

January 18, 2017 at 9:07 pm

You did a good job doing creative way of making snacks for your daughter. 🙂

Thanks for sharing your idea.

Lorenzo says

January 18, 2017 at 9:11 pm

Amazing ideas! I like the Apple Boat very creative. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Lorenzo recently posted…Electric Train Set

Megan says

September 28, 2020 at 7:05 am

I like the Apple boat and pom pom.
Thanks writer. I geat great idea

Kerry @ Eaglerock says

January 30, 2022 at 1:15 pm

Its really a gud n easy activity for kids they willl enjoy alot….😊
Gud job
Kerry @ Eaglerock recently posted…Top 6 Construction Trends and Innovations