This month’s theme is Transportation: Air, Land & Water. Always a favorite theme, especially with the boys! After a fun week with Air Transportation, we moved onto Water Transport and learned about submarines, cruise ships, ferries, duck boats, tugboats, containers ships and so much more. Enjoy!
Water Transportation Themed Activities
Creative Space
Play dough, stamps, scissors, lacing beads and cards, puzzles and blocks are set out for the children to choose from, and get creative during this 30 minute period.
Water Transportation Themed Circle Time
Every day during Circle Time we do the morning routine, which includes the Calendar and ‘Number, Color, Shape and Letter of the week’. We then read a story, sing a few songs and do a group activity.
On every Monday we change the ‘Classroom Helpers’ Classroom Jobs. Each child has a name card on a popsicle stick, and they get to choose their job of the week.
Water Transportation Themed Circle Time Activities
Activity 1: Weekend News
Every Monday morning each child gets a chance to talk about their weekend and what they did. The children then draw a picture in the ‘weekend news’ journal, and the teacher writes down what they have said.
Activity 2: Where is the Diver?
Cut out the pictures of the cruise-ships and the diver and laminate. During Circle Time put all the cruise-ships face up in the middle of the circle.
Ask the children to turn around or close their eyes. Hide the diver under a cruise-ship. Children take turns guessing under which cruise-ship the diver is. The child gets to keep the cruise-ship if guessed correctly, Continue until all cruise-ships are gone.
Activity 3: Water Transportation Memory Cards
Shuffle the cards and lay them on the table, face down, in rows. Play in a clockwise direction. On each turn, a player turns over any two cards (one at a time) and keeps them if the cards match.
If they successfully match a pair, they get to keep the cards, and that player gets another turn. When a player turns over two cards that do not match, those cards are turned face down again (in the same position) and it becomes the next player’s turn. The trick is to remember which cards are where. The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins.
Activity 4: Have you ever seen a … ?
Print out all the sheets on A3 paper, Give each child a strip of 5 happy faces. Ask them to write their names on each one and cut out., Do the pictograph as a big group activity, Ask ‘Have you ever seen a cruise ship?’. Everyone that has seen one stick their happy faces underneath.
Activity 5: Sail around the world
Mark ‘North’, ‘South’, ‘East’ and ‘West’ on the four walls of your class. The children pretend to be on a boat in the middle of the class. Shout out a direction, all the children ‘sail’ to that wall, touch it, and return to the middle of the class. You can sail around the whole world (touch all 4 walls) or sail from North to East etc.
Water Transportation Themed Songs
Fourteen action songs and rhymes all about Air Transportation to get those bodies moving and grooving. Click on the image to head over to the post.
Water Transportation Themed Books
Seventeen of the best story picture books that are perfect for an Air Transportation theme. Click on the image below to read what these books are about.
Water Transportation Themed Literacy Activities
Activity: Water Transportation Lap Book
1 – I know my colors!
Play ‘I Spy with my little eye, something that is green’ etc. Show the children how to cut out and assemble the ‘Colors’ pocket for the lap book.
Ask the children to trace the color words, to color the tugboats the same color and to cut out the pictures. Children name all the colors. When you are done with the activity, the children put their cards together in a pile and place them in the pocket in the lap book.
We assembled it into a little book and stapled it together. I this way, the cards didn’t fly all over the place every time the children handled the books.
2 – Types of Water Transportation
Show the children pictures of all the different modes of water transportation on Google. Show children how to cut out and assemble the ‘Water Transportation’ pocket for the lap book.
Children color and cut out the pictures. The teacher calls out a Water Transportation word and the children find that picture and put it in the air.
3 – Alphabetical Order
Place letter cards A – Z on the floor. Ask volunteers to jump on the letters as everyone sings the ABC song. Show children how to cut out and assemble the ‘ABC’s’ pocket for the lap book. Children color and cut out the cards and put them in the correct order from A to Z.
Water Transportation Themed Math Activities
Center 1: Sail Boats Pipe Cleaners Counting Center
Cut out the triangles and stick around the top-end of pipe cleaners (one flag per pipe cleaner), Children look at the number on each flag and use that many plastic beads to put on the pipe-cleaner.
Center 2: Roll & Color
Cut out and assemble the dice. Put the Pictograph in a plastic covers or dry-erasable pockets for re-use, This game can be played individually, in pairs or in small groups. Children throw the dice and color the corresponding picture on the pictograph, Keep going until one row reaches the top or give a time limit, Count and compare
Center 3: Roll & Draw
This game can be played individually, in pairs or in small groups. Children throw the dice, find the shape next to the corresponding picture, and draw it on the recording sheet.
Activity 1: Ten little Sail Boats for Lap Book
Listen to 10 Little Sailboats from Super Simple Songs. Show the children how to cut out and assemble the ‘10 Little Sailboats’ pocket for the lap book.
Children color and cut out the 10 little sailboats on the next page (make sure they cut on the lines). Ask children to order their pictures from 1 – 10. Listen to the song again. Children point to the correct numbers as they sing along.
When you are done with the activity, the children put their cards together in a pile and place them in the pocket in the lapbook
Activity 2: Shapes
Play ‘I Spy with my little eye, something that is round’ etc. Show children how to cut out and assemble the ‘Shapes’ pocket for the lap book. Children color and cut out the shapes and the pictures of the boats. Ask children to name all the shapes. When you are done with the activity, the children put their cards together in a pile and place them in the pocket in the lapbook
Water Transportation Themed Art
I got this idea over at fantasticfunandlearning.com. Click on the image to head over to their blog for full instructions. We didn’t have enough time this week to complete this activity, but it does look like great fun, so I decided to share it anyway.
Water Transportation Themed Science
Read the book ‘Things that float and things that don’t’.
You can do this as a whole class activity or if you are prepared for a bit of a mess, in groups.
Place a container filled with water (about half full) in the center of the circle. Have different objects ready (e.g., paper clips, erasers, scissors, pencils, paper, stones, leaves, sticks, plastic straws etc.) Children guess first which objects will float and which ones will sink. Teacher makes a note on the whiteboard of their hypotheses.
Children put the different objects in the water, observe and then complete the activity below.
STEM: Invitation to Build a Boat
I forgot to take a picture of this activity, as it was quite busy, but I got the fantastic idea over at miniaturemasterminds.com. Click on the image to head over to their blog for full instructions.
Water Transportation Themed Snack Idea
I found the idea for these adorable cracker planes on thingstoshareandremember.com. You will need boiled eggs, pretzel sticks and cheese slices. Build the egg boat as seen in the picture, and enjoy!
Click on the images below to download the Water Transportation Themed Math & Literacy Centers, Printables and Activities.
