Storytime: Vehicles

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. So this week, V is for Vehicles!


1) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
My current opening song that we sing acappella every week. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)


2) Mystery Box
This week I put a couple little cars and trucks in the box (from my own kids' collection!).


3) Toot Toot Beep Beep - Emma Garcia

I love Emma Garcia's Tip Tip Dig Dig (my 18-month-old asks to read it at least once a day, and my 3.5-year-old can "read" the whole thing), so when I saw she had also written this one I had to give it a go. I had the kids say the sounds after me - "beep beep", "vroom vroom", etc. Big bold colors, few words on a page, but lots of different vehicles made this a winner.


4) Green Says Go
I originally came across this activity at Erin's Falling Flannelboards. Once I googled it I came across it a few other places, as well as a YouTube video. I put large green, yellow, and red paper circles on craft sticks. I asked the kids if they've ever seen a stoplight when their parents are driving. Most of them already knew that green means go and red means stop. Then I had them stand up and march in place while I showed them the different colors. I even switched the colors up a few times (straight from green to red, etc.).

Green says, “Go!” (march quickly) 
Go go go! Go go go! Go go go! Go go go! 
Yellow says, “Slow...” (march slowly) 
Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow...
And red says, “Stop!” (stop and freeze) 

Go go go! Go go go! Go go go! Go go go!
Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow... Slow slow slow...
And STOP!


5) Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - Mo Willems

"Another kind of 'vehicle' is a bus. Have you ever seen a bus? Like a school bus?" I tried to get the kids to be very responsive in this book - the parents really helped. Any time the pigeon asked, I waited for everyone to say "no!" On the page where the pigeon really shouts and gets angry, one parent said to their child "it looks like he's having a temper tantrum! that's what you look like when you're having a temper tantrum too!"


6) The Wheels on the Bus
Of course that book led into this classic song. I used these verses, stopping before each one and asking the kids "what do the ___ do?"

The wheels on the bus go round and round
Round and round, round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round
All through the town

…doors…open and shut 
…wipers…swish, swish, swish 
…windows…up and down 
…driver (remember the bus driver in our last book?)…says move on back 
…babies…wah, wah, wah 
…mamas…shh, shh, shh


7) Sheep in a Jeep - Nancy Shaw

I had to interrupt the flowing rhymes of this book a few times to point things out or clarify what was going on. But mostly the kids seemed to enjoy it, and the ending got some smiles from the parents.


8) Song: Driving in my Car - Ralph Covert

Oh my goodness the more I listen to this song, the more hilarious it is! I told the kids I thought they were much better drivers than the pigeon or the sheep. I handed out paper plates that had a simple steering wheel clipart glued on. I had printed out the basic words and "sounds" of this song on a big paper and pinned it up for my own reference as well as for the parents. I explained to the kids that this song goes really fast, so we were going to practice first. After they knew what all the sounds were, I played this song directly from YouTube on my iPad. This is a song I'd be willing to purchase and use often if I could find it available...

P.S. I had this song stuck in my head all afternoon while I shelved books too... At least it made me move faster. :)


9) In the Driver's Seat - Max Haynes

The kids kept their paper plate steering wheels and helped me drive throughout this book. I had to remember to lean to my right when I wanted them to go left -- kids will always mirror whatever you do!


10) V is for Vehicles coloring page (18-36 months) or V is for Vehicles craft (3-5 years)
I cut out a template V and traced it onto black paper with a white crayon. Kids could try to cut the straight lines themselves or get a grownup to help. Then I had some thin yellow lines pre-cut that they glued down. And I printed some small clipart pictures of different vehicles on cardstock and cut out for the kids to glue on their roads.

Other vehicle ideas:
Little Blue Truck - Alice Schertle
Night Light - Nicholas Blechman
My Car - Byron Barton
Flannels: Vehicle Guessing Game and Where Does This Go?