Transportation theme for 3 and 4 year olds: a week of activities
A transportation theme lesson plan for 3 and 4 year olds: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (ten to fifteen minutes, with a child holding the book), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.
A day of the transportation theme with 3 and 4 year olds
- Arrival, sign-in, and a job from the helper chart.
- Circle (ten to fifteen minutes): calendar, “How did you get here today?”, sing “row, row, row your boat”, then The Red Bus.
- Centers, with the craft at one table: box car.
- Letter T: trace it once, then hunt for T around the room.
- Snack: Banana Sushi, with children pouring and counting.
- Outside: red light, green light.
- Rest, then a longer read-aloud.
Transportation circle time
- Good morning song, then say each name together.
- Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
- Ask: “How did you get here today?”
- Sing: Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
- Read: The Red Bus (level 1).
Threes and fours: ten to fifteen minutes; let a child hold the book.
Transportation theme books
- The Red Bus (level 1, free on peabody.kids): A red bus and all its riders.
- Stop, Bus! (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A bus that stops for a dog.
- The Big Truck (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A big truck stuck in the mud.
- Go, Snail, Go! (level 3, free on peabody.kids): Fast and slow: a snail and the things that go.
Transportation craft: Box car
You need (4): a shoebox, paper plates (wheels), crayons, tape.
- Color the box.
- Tape on four plate wheels (a grown-up helps).
- Drive it along a tape road on the floor.
With a grown-up. No heat, nothing hot.
Transportation song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat
The words
Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.
Traditional; public domain. From Top 52 nursery rhymes with lyrics.
Transportation snack
Banana Sushi from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.
Swap: Flour tortillas → corn tortillas; Peanut butter → sunflower seed butter.
Letter T activities
TtT is for truck. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).
Threes and fours: trace T and t once, then find T in the room and in the book.
Outside activity: Red light, green light
Cars drive on green, stop on red and go slowly on yellow.
Transportation theme for toddlersTransportation theme for 2 year oldsTransportation theme, all ages
Checked 2026-10-30