Construction Trucks

We conclude our month of transportation by learning all about construction.  As I expected it would be...construction was another huge hit with our motor-loving boys, Ryan and Ethan.  The touch and feel pool was full of paint stirs, sandpaper, beans, and construction trucks!  We talked about the names of each of the trucks and used them to scoop and dump the beans.  We also felt the "rough" sandpaper and used it to make the wood paint stirs "smooth."  We pretended that the paint stirs were roads and bridges and drove our construction trucks on them...back and forth.  When Ethan wanted the cement mixer that another friend was using, we practiced going to our friend and asking, "Do you want to trade?"  Social skills practice in action!

Open center time was super busy as the boys used a variety of construction trucks to motor, dig, push, and scoop through a large bin of rice.  We also had some plastic cups in the bins, and these were used to scoop up the rice and dump it out again.  As they played with the construction trucks, I modeled the name of each one and introduced a variety of different verbs often associated with these trucks (i.e.: roll, scoop, push, lift, dig, spin).

Ryan and Ethan especially enjoyed learning about the different tools that construction workers use, and learned a new song about the function of each of these tools.  A copy of the song was sent home in their book bags if you want to sing it at home.  Ryan and Ethan were able to try these tools out with my tool set.  They used and explored a drill, saw, hammer, tape measure, screwdriver, sander, and wrench.

And because both boys have shown interest in using scissors, I also had a "cutting station" ready and waiting.

Outside, I thought it would be fun to bring a parachute in order to stimulate some peer interaction with our other DUMC friends.  Who doesn't love a parachute!  All the kiddos had a blast as we lifted it up and down and walked together around in a circle.  We also threw some balls in the middle to see how high we could make them fly.  We sat down placing the parachute over our legs like a blanket and pretended to pop popcorn as our legs kicked the parachute up harder and harder until our "popcorn" was ready.

Tired and worn out from our playground fun, we sat down to read our book, Good Night, Good Night Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Litchenheld.  This is a sweet book about all the different trucks involved on a construction site, their specific roles on the construction site, and where each construction truck sleeps when his hard work is done.

After we finished the book and reviewed the names of each construction truck (crane, cement mixer, dump truck, bull dozer, and excavator), and clapped the syllables in each one. (Ryan and Ethan are getting very good at this!) Then the boys headed to the art table to create their own construction site by coloring a picture of an excavator, glueing it to a piece of construction paper, and adding the rice that we used in our bin as the gravel, dirt, and sand that we read about in the book.  

We summarized our language lesson with this construction song, which shows all varieties of construction trucks.

Both boys have copies of the book in their book bags.  At home, read the books and review the names of the construction trucks.  You can see if your boys are interested in coloring the construction booklet at home while you talk about the trucks and their jobs.  Sneak in some syllable clapping too!  See you all on Thursday as we learn more specifically about construction tools.