Construction
Takeout Storytime
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Greetings, Caregivers!
You are your child's first teacher. Help your little one get
ready to learn how to read by talking, singing, reading,
writing, and playing together. Have fun!
Talk
Take a field trip to a construction site. Talk about the equipment you see and ask your
child to describe what they think is happening. Ask your child what sounds they hear
and then identify the letters that make those sounds. "Beep beep starts with a "B"
sound! Can you make that sound with me?" Take along a book to help you identify the
heavy equipment you see. Books
Available to read on Hoopla!
Sing Inside Machines: Trucks
by David West
Encourage your child to play with rhymes. Give your child a word like "zoom" and hoopladigital.com/title/12175193
then ask them to think of another sound or word that rhymes. Experimenting with
rhyme while singing or playing a game helps children hear the multiple sounds
that make up each word, skills they use when learning to speak and read. Little Truck
by Taro Gomi
hoopladigital.com/title/11994370
Read
Explore non-fiction books about trucks or heavy equipment with your child. Construction Site Mission: Demolition
Before reading the text, look at the illustrations with your child and ask them to by Sherri Duskey Rinker, A. G. Ford
tell you what they know about each object or character. Kids are wonderful hoopladigital.com/title/13318722
detectives, making predictions and deducing information from their knowledge
of the world and context clues within the book. Trucks Go!
by Steve Light
Write
hoopladigital.com/title/12225147
Construction Zoo
Invite your child to draw a picture story of their construction site field trip. What
did they see, hear, and do? Transcribe their words as they describe their by Jennifer Thorne, Susie Hammer
illustrations, modeling writing. Later, invite them to retell their story to a loved one hoopladigital.com/title/12402565
using their illustrations.
Need more fabulous books?
imagineiflibraries.org/shopper
Play
Playing with blocks is one of the best ways for kids to experience hands-on
early mathematics. If you don't have a set, you can collect sticks, rocks, or
cardboard boxes to make your own. As they stack, sort, and demolish, kids
intuitively learn about physics, proportions, counting, and balance. Add toy
vehicles or animals and watch your child's stories come to life.
Four Big Machines
Songs Four big machines at the construction site
Worked, worked, worked with all their might!
Make up your own verses The foreman called the dump truck to drive away
with your child! Then three big machines were left that day
Repeat as the earth mover, roller, and excavator get
called away until no big machines "were left that day."
Dump Truck I'll Drive a Dump Truck
Dump truck, dump truck (pat knees or clap hands) From "Little Songs for Little Me" by Nancy Stewart
Bumping down the road Tune: Mary Wore Her Red Dress
Spilling gravel as we travel with our heavy load
(sway side to side and slow temp) I'll drive a dump truck, dump truck, dump truck
Dump truck, dump truck (speed up tempo) I'll drive a dump truck all day long!
Bumping down the road
Dump truck, dump truck, dump truck... dump! I'll drive a loader...
(fall back or to the side) I'll drive a digger...
I'lll drive my little car... all the way home!
Bumpity Bumpity
Tune: Little Red Wagon
Bumpity, bumpity goes the dump truck (bounce or jump)
Little Red Wagon
Bumpity, bumpity goes the dump truck Bouncing up and down in my little red wagon,
Bumpity, bumpity goes the dump truck little red wagon, little red wagon
Dump out the load. (tip over or fall down) Bouncing up and down in my little red wagon,
won't you be my darling?
Down the hill and around the corner...
The wheels fell off and the wagon tipped over...
I'm gonna fix it with my little hammer...
Playtime Bouncing up and down in my little red wagon...
Recreate the fun of a construction Loose Parts Building
site at a child-sized scale!
Gather an assortment of items like playdough, sticks, and
wire and invite your child to tinker and create. Open-
ended, loose parts play celebrates the process, not the
product. Along the way your child will engineer, problem
solve, and investigate how things work. Encourage them
Virtual Early to take apart their creations and build them again
differently.
Literacy Class
Join ImagineIF's Ellie for a construction-themed
Construction Site
early literacy class on YouTube: Move sandbox time indoors during the long winter
tinyurl.com/ConstructionStories months by filling a box with sand, lentils, rolled oats, or
sunflower seeds. Provide items that can be used to
make simple machines like wheels and axels, inclined
Block Play planes, and levers Add rocks, blocks, sticks and tiny
trucks for a pint-sized construction site.
Towers aren't the only thing built with blocks!
Make a Puppet
Jim West Puppets
Change it up by adding props such as paper, felt,
vehicles, or animals and encourage your child to
transform their blocks with their imaginations. Don't Use a brown paper bag to create a puppet
be afraid to leave blocks out for an extended period. or tiny parking garage for toy cars. Using
Play will evolve and become more complex when glue, scissors, and tape are all good
given the chance!
kindergarten readiness activities.
