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Transportation theme for toddlers: a week of activities

A transportation theme lesson plan for toddlers: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (two or three minutes, on laps), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.

Plan this week for toddlersThe whole transportation week

A day of the transportation theme with toddlers

  1. Arrival and free play on the floor.
  2. Sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” with actions; repeat it while you change and feed.
  3. Hold and pass something real for the week (bus), and say its name.
  4. Snack: a toddler-safe version of banana sushi (check the recipe's lines for under-4s).
  5. Outside: a short walk looking for truck.
  6. Read The Red Bus on laps, pointing and naming.
  7. Nap, then the song once more at pick-up.

Transportation circle time

  1. Hello song: sing hello to each child by name.
  2. Look out of the window together: sun, rain or clouds?
  3. Show the theme: hold up something real and name it.
  4. Sing: Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
  5. Read: The Red Bus (level 1).

Infants and toddlers: two or three minutes, on laps.

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.

Infants and toddlers: one book, read every day; point and name.

Transportation craft: Box car

You need (4): a shoebox, paper plates (wheels), crayons, tape.

  1. Color the box.
  2. Tape on four plate wheels (a grown-up helps).
  3. Drive it along a tape road on the floor.

With a grown-up. No heat, nothing hot.

Infants and toddlers: let them touch and hold the materials while you make it; nothing small enough to swallow.

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).

Infants and toddlers: skip the trace page; show the picture page and say the word.

Outside activity: Red light, green light

Cars drive on green, stop on red and go slowly on yellow.

Transportation theme for 2 year oldsTransportation theme for 3 and 4 year oldsTransportation theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30