Ten Summer Activities You Can Do Together: Cars and Trucks and Planes and Trains OH MY!

 ZOOOOOOOOM and VROOOOOOM!  CHOO CHOO!  Select a book about cars, trucks or other moving objects such as an airplane or train from the library and read the story with your child.  Then, help reinforce the sounds, actions and names of the objects by trying one or all of these activities.  You can do these at the library, at home, at the park, at the pool, or wherever you find time together! 

1. Count all the blue (or red or green or brown, etc.) trucks you see
2. Sing Wheels On The Bus or Wheels on the Car
3. Draw a picture of the car you would like
4. Help Mom & Dad or Grandma & Grandpa wash the family car
5. Find a box and make a car
6. Use wheels and paint to make tracks on paper
7. Read a book about different types of trains
8. Use the lid of a pot as a steering wheel and pretend to drive a _(Choose car, truck, etc.)_ to the _(Choose a location such as the store)_
9. What words rhyme with car? What words rhyme with plane? What words rhyme with truck? What words rhyme with train?
10. Use small toy cars to form the 1st initial of your name

Terrific Twos: Trains Go CHOO CHOO!

It's Terrific Two Year Old time!  We are continuing with our fast moving theme of 'Things that GO!' and sharing rhymes and books about TRAINS!  Our selection of rhymes, songs and stories encourages active play and thoughtful fun for kids who like motion and movement.  Children will use hands and feet throughout the rhymes to create activity, such as making chugging motions.  Through making whistle sounds and other train noises such as the whoosh of a steam engine, children learn the letters and sounds words make.  Such simplicity of motion and sounds engages children's imaginations and helps them get Ready to Read!

I'm a Choo Choo Train Rhyme   
I’m a choo choo train chugging down the track.  (make chugging motions)
First I go forward, then I go back.
Now my bell is ringing, hear my whistle blow,  (make whistle noise)
What a lot of noise I make everywhere I go.
   
I’m a choo choo train chugging down the track.  (make chugging motions)
First I go forward, then I go back.
Now my bell is ringing, hear my whistle blow,  (make whistle noise)
What a lot of noise I make everywhere I go.

If I were a..... Rhyme
If I were a bus or a car,
I would roll down the road.  (roll hands)
If I were a truck,
I would dump my heavy load.  (let hands fall)
If I were an airplane,
I would fly up to the sky.  (spread arms like wings)
If I were a boat,
I would make waves as I went by.  (make waves)
If I were a train,
I would chug along the track.  (train motions)
But I am a person,
So I will walk there and back.

For more train fun, check out these books we read at Terrific Twos this week: 

A Train Goes Clickety Clack by Jonathan London
Trains are fast. Trains are sleek. Trains make wonderful sounds as the wheels clatter, boilers hiss, and couplings clang. This playful picture book captures the excitement of trains through evocative language and vibrant illustrations. 
Check catalog availability

I Love Trains by Philemon Sturges
A boy expresses his love of trains, describing many kinds of train cars and their special jobs. 
Check catalog availability

Wonderful Ones: Toot! Toot! Beep! Beep!

This week at Wonderful Ones we have the fun of songs and rhymes with car and train action!  You'll use gentle movements to help baby learn about the space around them, such as, clapping hands to the rhythm, nodding and shaking heads for yes and no, and bouncing baby on your lap to mimic the bumps along the road or tracks.  Using these songs, rhymes and books, you are helping to introduce new words and sounds to your child, which helps him or her develop a bigger vocabulary.    

We Can Rhyme
We can jump, jump, jump,
We can hop, hop, hop,
We can clap, clap, clap,
We can stop, stop, stop.
We can nod our heads for yes,
We can shake our heads for no,
We can bend our knees a tiny bit,
And sit down slow.

Car Ride Song (Sing while bouncing baby on lap)
This is the way the car goes,
Bumpity, bumpity, bump.
This is the way the car goes,
Bumpity, bumpity, bump.
Oh, oh, there’s a hole in the road,
Bumpity, bumpity, BUMP!

The Little Train Rhyme
The little train went up the track, (hand runs up arm)
It went toot, toot,
And then it came back.
The other train went up the track, (other arm)
It went toot, toot,
And then came back.

The little train went up the track, (hand runs up arm)
It went toot, toot,
And then it came back.
The other train went up the track, (other arm)
It went toot, toot,
And then came back.

We read these books at Wonderful Ones this week:

Beep!  Beep!  Peekaboo! by Dawn Sirett
As babies play hide-and-seek with their toys, readers can open the flaps to discover where the textured toys are hiding. 
Check catalog availability

A Red Train by Bernette Ford
Come take a ride with animals in a book that covers two concepts--colors and forms of transportation. A charming cat looks happily out the window of a red train , a bunny rides in a yellow rocket , and there's also a blue car, orange submarine, green bus, purple boat, and more!
Check catalog availability