Transportation Planes, Train, and Ships Activities, Crafts, and Games

Transportation, Travel, Train, Ship, Airplane Activities, Games, Printables, Songs and Rhymes

Enjoy our travel and transportation preschool and kindergarten activities and ideas for all areas of your classroom. During the holiday season many people will be traveling by land, air, or maybe even water to visit loved ones. Take this opportunity to talk with your children about different ways to travel: by car, by plane, by train, or by boat. Here are some travel ideas to help you get your discussion started.

How do we get there?
You will need a puppet, suitcase or bag, toy vehicles (ship, train, airplane, car, truck, motorcycle, boat, rocket ship)
Place all the toys in the suitcase. Introduce the puppet and explain to children that the puppet needs their help. "Can you help me? I want to go to _____. How can I get there?' Let children name different ways the puppet can travel to the destination.

Explain that there are different ways we can travel from one place to another. Another word for it is transportation. Explain that you have different modes of transportation inside your suitcase. Let children guess what's inside the suitcase. Remove one toy at a time and discuss the transportation vehicle. 

Use the puppet to ask:
"Can you help me? I want to go to visit my friend that lives across the town. How can I get there?"
"Can you help me? I want to go on vacation on an island. How can I get there?"
"Can you help me? I want to go to Africa on vacation. How can I get there?"
etc.

Transportation
Print or cut out a variety of transportation pictures (airplane, train, ship, bus, car). Have each child choose a picture and name the mode of transportation. Play some music and let children move around the room pretending to be that type of transportation. When the music stops, all children stop in place. 

Grandma's ABC Suitcase Game 
Play this memory game with kids about the items Grandma packed in her suitcase when she went on a trip. Start the game by saying, "Grandma went on a trip and she took along an apple." Explain that each child will add one thing to Grandma's suitcase in alphabetical order. For younger kids, they can just name the next object, for example, "Grandma went on a trip and she took along a basketball." For older kids, encourage them to try to add the new item after reciting all of the previous items, for example, "Grandma went on a trip and she took along an apple, a basketball, and a canary." Continue with the game until all the alphabet letters have been used or play the game a little at a time.

Keep a record of the children's responses for each letter of the alphabet for a class book, Grandma's ABC Suitcase.

Free Travel and Transportation Printables and Coloring Pages

Family Traveling Coloring Page	Sailboat Coloring Page	Ship Maze	Train Truck Pre-writing Skills	Thanksgiving Travel Activity

Classroom Decoration

Ride the Train!
Take pictures of children's faces and create a train scene. To make the train, use small boxes covered with construction paper and add wheels. Cut out rectangle windows and glue the pictures of the children inside.

Getting Ready for a Trip:

Talk about the clothing we need to pack to go on a trip. Sing the song and act out the movements that go along with the song.

It's Time to go on a Trip, Hurray!
(Tune: Old Mac Donald Had a Farm)

by Jolanda Garcia, KidsSoup, Inc.

It's time to go on a trip, Hurray! E I E I O,
I pack some socks and fold them tight, E I E I O,
With a sock sock here, and a sock sock there,
Here a sock, there a sock, everywhere a sock sock.
It's time to go on a trip Hurray! E I E I O,

I pack some shirts
I pack some pants
I pack some shoes
I pack some underwear
Etc.

Dramatic Play Area

Packing a Suitcase 
Place some old suitcases and baskets of clothing items in an area of the classroom. Show children how to fold different items of clothing to fit into a suitcase. Provide time for children to pretend in small groups that they are packing for a trip. They can practice folding and packing for dramatic play.

New Going Places and Travel by Train, Airplane, Car, and Ship Activities, Games, and Crafts

The airplane has great big wings: (stretch arms out horizontally)
Its propeller spins around and sings, "Vvvvvv!" (spin one arm around)
The airplane goes up, (lift up arms)
The airplane goes down, (lower arms)
The airplane flies high (stretch arms out horizontally again and spin self around)
Over the town!

Kidsongs - Cars, Boats, Trains and Planes

Did You Ever See an Airplane?
(Tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie?)
Author Unknown

Did you ever see an airplane,
an airplane, an airplane
Did you ever see an airplane way up in the sky?
There are big ones and small ones,
And short ones and long ones
Did you ever see an airplane way up in the sky?

Did you ever see a train,
a train, a train
Did you ever see a train on the track?
There are big ones and small ones,
And short ones and long ones
Did you ever see a train on the track?

Did you ever see a ship,
a ship, a ship
Did you ever see a ship on the water?
There are big ones and small ones,
And short ones and long ones
Did you ever see a ship on the water?

On the Train Movement and Song

Use masking tape to create pretend train tracks on the floor in a circle. Let children follow you around the track as you sing the song. Use a wooden train whistle to add a fun sound effect.