Our three- and four-year-olds have been loving cars lately - how they work, terminology, ramps, and more. Cars can offer many valuably lessons for preschoolers. Below are a list of activities that have worked well for our class. For added clarification, see the pictures.
Ice: For an exciting introduction into solids and liquids, set a few cars in a metal pan (we used several shapes and sizes) and add water. Let this set in the freezer overnight. Then in the morning, your activity will be ready! Give the children a squirt bottle full of warm water to gently squeeze onto the ice. Watch as the magical transformation of solid to liquid commences. For a little added fun, add your choice of watercolor to the pan and/or the squirt bottle.
Weight and Comparisons: This game requires two children, a balance scale, toy cars, and either cards or dice. Before starting, be sure to center the balance scale. To play, either roll a dice or draw a face-down card. Determine the number by using one-to-one correspondence, subitizing, or number identification. Then, place ___ number of cars in your side of the scale. Next, your partner repeats the process. This opens a discussion of heavier and lighter and offers many giggles as you watch the scale tilt. Be sure to introduce the activity in a positive manner, without suggesting competition. The goal is not to have the heaviest cars, but to explore weight and have fun!
Measurement: Using cars as math manipulatives enhances any activity or project. Here, our mathematicians use cars as an unconventional form of measurement. To start, a child lies on the floor between two long blocks labeled "head" and "feet." We started placing cars at the "head" end of the child and continued until we reached their "feet" block. Teachers also introduced the idea of "half" of a car if required for that child's height. Then, practicing one-to-one correspondence, we counted the number of cars. Using our handmade chart, a teacher wrote the number of cars in a box by a child's name. The student was also able to place small stickers on wheels by their name to indicate the number of cars tall they are. We used this chart to continue our discussion of shorter and taller.
Ramps: Ramp building is an exploration of movement and gravity. Children used our resources to test their ideas and make adjustments as needed. We worked together to plan ramps, both verbally and visually, then worked together to turn these ideas into realities. Our physicists investigated ideas such as momentum and gravity when working with our cars and problem-solved when plans needed modified.
Literature and Research: While our children love hands-on learning experiences, they also appreciate a good book and research. To support our car exploration, the books "My Car" by Byron Barton and"Race Cars" by Josh Gregory have helped us learn terminology and more about why cars move. We've also begun a discussion on racing. Being from Indiana, I was able to share my knowledge of the Indy 500. We have also researched the Indianapolis 500 by watching videos online. The children were in awe when they watch the cars zoom quickly by.
Alphabet: For this challenge, use tape and a marker to label toy cars "A," "B,"and so on. Create an alphabet list using a sentence strip and a marker. This challenge can be a teacher-directed activity or student-led. For a teacher-directed activity, give each student a bundle of cars. The teacher can either verbally or visually announce a letter, and the person with the matching letter must race to "park" their car on the appropriate letter on the alphabet strip. For a student-led activity, the students can simply match each car to the corresponding letter on the alphabet strip and work together to complete the alphabet.
Names and Words: Challenge your readers by spelling their name, their friends' names, or other short words. Using the same cars from the above activity, children can work to spell a variety of small words. Again, this can be a teacher-directed activity by prompting each word to be spelled. This can also be a student-led activity by providing short words or names on sentence strips. Here, students would spell their word by matching the letters on the cars to the letters on the sentence strip.
Writing and Drawing: Our artists were interested in how to draw different kinds of cars and how to make signs for the road. Following their interest, we researched how to draw cars and taught them using "big lines," "little lines," "big curves," and little curves," terminology they are familiar with from the Handwriting Without Tears Writing Program. We also practiced our best writing by making signs such as "STOP," "NO PARKING," "GAS STATION," and many more. These were the perfect addition to our classroom track that we made next.
Floor Race Track: To provide a space for our newly made signs, we created a floor track. To start, create a road with several long strips of paper. The students can use washable markers to add the dotted lines in the center of the road. Next, we placed our signs all around the track. Then, this movement-focused activity can begin.
I'd be happy to know if any of these activities are successful with your preschoolers!
Keep racing to learn more,
Ms. E Warner
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