Build-a-Car Auto Shop Dramatic Play

It's probably nobody's favorite place in "real life," but to my two boys, an auto shop holds all the wonder their young imaginations can hold. Tools, building, washing, painting, constructing, deconstructing, repairing... This dramatic play setup has it all and was super easy and quick to set up using things we had at home, recycled materials and loose parts and a few add ins from the dollar store.

I also made use of this Auto Shop Dramatic Play set by Pocket of Preschool, my go-to supplier of great dramatic play resources and ideas. I particularly like the elements of literacy she adds in through signage, labels, writing and drawing opportunities and ways young players of all ages and stages can contribute to creating their play environment. You can certainly add in your own labels and find free printables or create your own online. I made a bundle purchase when there was a flash sale on Teachers Pay Teachers last year on an entire dramatic play set and it's been a huge time saver for me. I also find that in these summer weeks, we need to change out our play themes and materials a bit more frequently to keep everyone interested and engaged.

Scooter boards are a great and easy to store gross motor toy and
are perfect for scooting under vehicles in need of repairs or driving
around town in a cardboard box car...

Our pizzas had seemingly gone a bit stale over this past Shabbos and I asked the boys if they were ready to change over our play theme. They both were quite excited by the prospect. I asked first if they had ideas and S wanted to bring back a few old favorites. I love that he enjoyed some of our past themes so much that he wants to do them again (and we will!) but I also had another idea up my sleeve that I'd been storing (both literally and figuratively) since the winter. We have a lot of interest in tools, building and repairing things here. In fact, for S's recent 5th birthday, I found myself nowhere other than the lumber department of Lowe's shopping for his birthday present--wood, a new personalized tool bag and some tools to go with it plus a stack of books (sold separately).

I had in mind to set up an auto-mechanic's shop for the boys over the winter and we never got to it. And after a recent trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop, I thought, how cool would it be if we combined that idea with our very own Build-a-Car workshop? We have no shortage of recycled materials and loose parts here... [it's not hoarding if I have a use for it someday....]


 So with a little bit of organization and set up, we combined the best of two beautiful worlds: dramatic play and building with loose parts and opened up shop--our Build-a-Car Auto Shop, to be precise!

These mechanics are honest [to a fault]. They work hard, efficiently and might make lemonade out our lemons. They can turn an old jalopy into a work of art. As long as you think masking tape and neon straws are aesthetically pleasing. So give us a call on our calculator phones, we'll book you an appointing in the appointment book. One of our hardworking mechanics will take your customer information and they will get you on your way and going in no time at all!

You can also bring your vehicle into the shop for a wash and detail. In other potentially related news, if you set up a giant bucket of things for washing and painting a car, give no instructions or introduction, go upstairs to feed the baby and leave two little boys to their own devices, you will probably come down to find they added water to the scene and the hardwood floor is now very clean... Lesson learned, rookie Mom, lesson learned.

But if that didn't totally scare you off, here's a list of props and ideas for creating your own Build-a-Car Auto Shop Dramatic Play theme at home or in the classroom...


Possible Props & Materials:

Miscellaneous

• cash register
• play money
• receipt book
• toy phones, walkie talkies or calculator "phones"
• writing materials
• key chains, old keys
• construction helmets
• mechanic uniforms (old t-shirts, aprons or lab coats)
• work gloves
• goggles
• tools, toy and real
• clip boards for customer orders and appointment books (either printed or created by you)
• scooter boards 
• traffic cones
• funnels
• plastic tubing 
• nuts and bolts
• tool boxes
• magazines (or transportation themed books for early readers) and chairs for a waiting room
• old computer or keyboard
• toy cars

Loose Parts for Building and Repairs

• cardboard boxes in a variety of sizes
• cardboard scraps
• recycled plastic containers
• cardboard tubes
• paper plates
• bungee cords
• zip ties
• pipe cleaners
• plastic straws
• recycled bottle caps and pouch caps
• velcro strips
• empty tissue boxes
• Art & Craft Materials (paint, markers, crayons, masking tape/tape, scissors, hole punchers, metal brads for attaching wheels)
• stickers, tissue paper, paper scraps, wrapping paper, cellophane, tin foil

S engineered a submarine! 

I guess our auto shop can service a variety of transportation modes!

Car Wash & Detail Props

• fluids, soap, oil (I used plastic travel bottles with colored water and oil, sealed shut with duct tape)
• empty spray bottle
• paint rollers
• paint brushes
• utility bucket
• empty paint cans
• paint chips
• squeegees
• sponges
• microfiber cloths and/or mitts
• water*
• shaving cream* 

*After the boys' little indoor "experiment," I did promise them an outdoor opportunity to have a car wash. We will probably wash our actual cars this week and also do a smaller scale shaving cream and water car wash for some toy cars.

You can pick and choose materials from the lists above that you have on hand, add in your own ideas and build/create many of your own props. Better yet, have the kids build and create their own props! Even before I released the cardboard box collection, the boys were already busy building cars out of chairs and empty laundry baskets.  You can add in building toys to the scene as well. Gears, tinker toys, and blocks of all kinds would be great to supplement. Recycled materials work just as well and somehow really spark the kids' imagination.

Here are some Play Extension Ideas to take it further:

• Collaborate together to build a larger scale car using a big cardboard box and other loose parts. This process can include drawing/writing out plans and measurements (for a literacy and math component), actual construction of the car (STEM/building activities), painting and decorating the car (art) and using it in play afterward (dramatic play)

• Gather or check out some favorite transportation themed books from your local library and use them in an auto shop themed story stretcher

• Take it outdoors! Use sidewalk chalk to create your own roads and city or neighborhood (writing/pre-writing). Use cones and other visual aids to create an obstacle course and have kids ride bikes or scooter boards (gross motor skills and safety). 
• While you're outside, get some soapy water and shaving cream and have your own car wash for toy cars, riding toys or your actual car!
• Take a theme related field trip to the car wash.
• Make a gas station using a recycled laundry detergent container and plastic tubing and fill 'er up!
• Older kids might enjoy the challenge of building and testing model cars. There are a variety of kits for this in craft supply and hobby stores that target a variety of ages and abilities.
• Paint with toy cars! Dip some toy cars in your favorite colors of washable paint and drive them across the paper for some great prints and designs. When you're done, it's a great time to open up the toy car wash and get them cleaned up and ready for play.
• Playdough with toy cars--those tires can make some great tracks in playdough, slime or kinetic sand.

Check out some of our other transportation themed activities for more ideas and, as always...

Happy Playing!

Digging in the Dirt: Simple Split-Side Sensory Bin

Confession: I always thought split side sensory tables were a waste of space! When I would see classrooms with these, I couldn't help but wonder how the children had enough space to play on either side. I always opted for the larger single bin tables in my own classrooms and at home as well. Today I am a changed woman! I have seen the light! Or at least the occasional use for a slit side setup in your sensory table. Why?

• because siblings and friends don't always want to play together in the same space (let us all recall the aftermath of the 3 Beans Fight of 2019...oy, I shudder when I think of stepping upon another lentil...)
• because sometimes you have a small amount of a particular sensory play material
• because sometimes you do want more than one type of filler out but you don't want them to necessarily intermingle (or at least right away)

All of these factors played into my desire to set up a split side sensory table this week using kinetic sand and kinetic rock for a simple but playful Digging in the Dirt bin. I had only a small amount of each material and could already foresee the challenges of S and Y both trying to play with one at the very same time in the large basin of our sensory table. I also only have that larger sensory table. So when it came to setting up a split side activity, I got creative on a shoestring budget and used some clear 5.5Qt Sterilite file boxes I have at home. These are inexpensively found in office supply stores or the office supply aisle of Walmart. They are great for tabletop or traveling messy play and work amazingly on top of the light table for this purpose as well. I've used them to transport sensory play activities to the nature based playgroup I run during the spring and summer months and, um, I guess you can use them for file storage, too! The final benefit to these is the snap on lid--great for easy travel and also for closing up shop in between play sessions (especially for materials that may dry out).

I kept our setup very simple. The kinetic sand had a collection of plastic cars (I love these since they are dishwasher safe and easy to clean) and the kinetic rock had a set of construction themed toys that actually came all together (an impulse buy from Toys r'Us when they were going out of business last year).

The boys played so nicely side by side and we even took the bins outside to play on a whim after their nap one evening. Boy was it ever easy to snap and go with these little boxes as opposed to shlepping the whole sensory table out front alongside two eager little construction workers underfoot! And if you don't have a sensory table at all or the space for one, I can't recommend these little file boxes enough. They stack away neatly (even under a bed) and can also store your sensory materials in between use. In a classroom or home setup, it can be a real lifesaver to have a few of these ready to grab and go on an unexpected rainy day.

What about mixing of materials? It happens. S actually asked if he could mix the two together and I explained that once they were mixed you couldn't unmix them. I am, however, thinking a little science experiment at the very end of our go with this might be fun since a little bit of mixing is kind of inevitable and kinetic rock sand might just catch on!

I love that we do have the space here (albeit limited) to keep sensory play a part of our daily routine. I also find that I am constantly striving to reinvent the wheel and get more and more creative and elaborate with my table setups. It helps to remember that simple is still fun and that less is often more. If a setup does need more, trust me, your little players will let you know! S usually asks before adding things in. Y is a little sneakier. For little construction work lovers, a transportation theme or a community helpers theme, a small collection of cars and trucks really inside of some play sand, dough, dirt, dried beans or rice, coffee grounds or gravel really is enough to encourage and spark meaningful play. Whether you're digging inside, outdoors or on the go, it's a pretty safe guarantee that you're little ones will be happy playing!

A Peek Inside Our Playroom: Fire Station Dramatic Play Center

Remember that time I was supposed to be making soup and omelettes for dinner but instead I was transforming our living room into a firehouse? Good think my husband, an amazing (and slightly more on-task) cook, had made a huge pot of vegetarian chili the night before. So we had leftovers for dinner and a great evening playing and learning in our new Fire Station Dramatic Play Center.

Yes, setting up new dramatic play themes is time and labor intensive. There is the cleaning up and storing of previous setups, the gathering, organizing and preparing of new materials and ideas and then the actual execution of setup. It usually takes me a few hours and sometimes multiple installments if that can't happen in one time-slot. I have also picked up a few time-saving tricks great for the home and classroom and seen incredible benefits of these playroom transformations in both of my boys.

Both S and Y have gained so much in their symbolic play skills through engaging in our recent playroom themes. Y has picked up an enormous amount of language and vocabulary. (How many 22 month olds do you know who know the word Zamboni?) S has greatly increased his ability to talk through characters and expand on our play-themes in his own imagination (rather than through adult directed suggestions).

And here are some time and sanity saving strategies:

• Pack and store theme related materials together in 2 gallon ziplock bags so they can be pulled out and easily accessed when we're ready to use them again
• Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. When you transition themes, try to do so in a way that allows you to keep some materials from the previous theme out. For one thing, this is less shocking to your young audience than a complete playroom overhaul. It also allows them to expand on the previous theme and their own critical thinking skills. And, lastly, it's just easier for you! Having a couple of firehouse dogs and some accessories to care for them helped ease the transition from Vet & Pet Center to Fire Station. out our doctor tools and costume props also incorporated the idea that sometimes firefighters do medical aid and emergency relief work as well, an all encompassing way to play about community helpers (which is also the theme in S's preschool curriculum right now).
• Less is more! Introduce new props and activities incrementally. When I started doing these more elaborate setups, I felt I had to have everything out and ready at the get-go. This was overwhelming for me and by the time our play theme had run its course, there would be things the boys had never discovered or played with. Now I do a basic setup initially and gradually add in new things over the course of the days and weeks to come. This expands the shelf-life of my boys' interest in the play-theme and also spares my energy level! Sometimes setting up right before Shabbos is helpful because anything that is muktzah (not permissible to use on Shabbos) gets set out afterward, allowing the boys to explore the bare bones first. Even though I set this up in the middle of the week, I followed the same concept. Activities and materials related to writing were set aside for later. We ordered a pop-up fire truck that didn't arrive until right before Shabbos. And watching the boys explore and engage in play helped me to know what we needed to add in or shift around.

And now, without further ado, come on in and take a peek inside our playroom!

A basket is stocked with fire extinguishers (made from labeled dollar store spray bottles) and hoses (recycled medical equipment, you can also use plastic tubing from your hardware or pet supply store or even recycled cardboard tubes). A bucket and some cones are also available as well as a basket of "fire" (silk scarves in shades of red, yellow and orange for building and setting up fires).

Costumes, our kitchen and housekeeping area and an emergency response center, ready for action...

The Emergency Response Center is stocked with firefighter costumes, helmets, boots (the boys' rainboots), walkie talkies and phones (dollar tree calculators) and a "computer" (cash register) as well as a few items for writing down important notes. More specific writing materials and props would be added later on... Our drawers also store some pet food for the firehouse pups and some pots, pans and dishes for cooking up snacks for hungry firefighters.

Our shelves are stocked with tools, flashlights, gloves and goggles, sponges and medical equipment. A firefighter does a lot more in a day's work than just fight fires! 

Costume lover!

S had the idea to build a firetruck using the chairs. He steered it with his helmet as he responded to emergencies including a "broken smoke detector," a "burning pizza," and more!

Firefighters also use tools for building and handling emergency situations. S decided to build a house using wood scraps from our STEAM Cart and tools.

Whatever the reason or time of day...

Y and S are on their way!

For more ideas on playing about community helpers and firefighters/fire safety, check out these old posts:

• Firefighters Theme
• Community Helpers Theme

*Many of the printed items and inspiration for this setup came from the Fire Station Dramatic Play set by Pocket of Preschool.

We'll see you next time and until then...

Happy Playing!

Beyond the Book: "Boats Go" by Steve Light

 Have you ever woken up at 7:30 AM to the sounds of your three year old singing "Oh, sole mio!" from his bed? I have! And do you know why? Because at the grande finale of Boats Go, another fabulously illustrated and alliterated book by Steve Light, we learn that this is the sound of a gondola traveling the scenic canals of Venice, Italy. S picked out this book for our most recent story stretcher and after a family vacation with a hotel room view of a marina, I knew he would love our boat-themed afternoon together.



We began our story stretcher by reading the book (no fewer than three times--S really likes the book and once Y woke up from his nap, S wanted to make sure that he got to hear it, too) and sharing a tasty theme related snack:

edible sail boats made with apple slices, pretzel sticks and cheese

Next it was time for our letter review: Bb for boat! I brought out a mysterious backpack filled with objects from around the house and a basket proudly donning a red letter B. S's mission, should he choose to accept it, would be to put the objects beginning with the letter Bb into the basket, and those not beginning with the letter into the "bay" (our hardwood floor).

Our basket was brimming with a book, a baby, a bottle, a banana, a ball, a balloon, a bear, bread and, of course, a boat... I like using a variety of activities to introduce beginning sounds and letter recognition. We do a lot of crafts, songs and action rhymes, early writing practice and games for a multi-sensory approach to learning letters here.

While we were on the topic of sorting, it was time for another sorting activity of things that go in water and things that do NOT go in water:

I created a simple chart on the computer and provided a selection of stickers for sorting. Our water side was swimming with seals and ducks, fish and turtles, watercraft of all kinds and sea life galore...

 Both boys were ready for some playtime now and I was all set up for some great parallel water play in our living room. Yes I am crazy brave enough to allow my kids to play in water on our living room rug--but just in case, I did put a towel down and only a shallow amount of water in the sensory bins. You could definitely reserve water play for another indoor surface (like the tub) or outdoors!

Y LOVED playing across from S, and mostly favored throwing boats overboard for S to fetch. S got a kick out of this. Once Y got tired and had his next nap installment, S and I were ready for a STEM challenge:

Using a variety of recycled plastic containers, foil, cups, straws, cardboard tubes and scrap paper as well as some scissors and masking tape, we got busy building boats! We observed the containers we were choosing and that they had holes in the bottom. I asked what might happen with the holes in the water. S said that water would go in. That's when I introduced a little bit of rhyming alongside some science: a boat should float! Busily we built and taped and tried different techniques of creating some recycled sailboats to test. S needed a little help with some of the taping, but picked out all of his own parts and design. On my sail, I wrote a big M for the first letter of my name. On S's sail, he asked for help writing his first letter! It was almost time to test them out.

First we tested the boats on their own, with nothing inside. S quickly discovered that water does indeed flow through the holes on the bottom of these containers and that his boat should float but was sinking! He grabbed a piece of tin foil to wrap around the bottom. Smart kid!

 I brought down a dish of pennies as our test subject. When conducting an experiment, you should change only one thing from your control subject. We chose to use pennies but you could use another small object so long as they are all the same size, shape, weight, etc. We observed that a penny dropped into the water on its own sinks right to the bottom. Next we observed that a penny dropped into our successfully floating sailboats does not sink! We wanted to see how many pennies our boats could hold before succumbing to the weight and sinking to the bottom.

There are a lot of great boat related STEM activities you could do along with this book or with a watercraft or transportation theme.
Got a Lego lover? Try out the same experiment as above, but build your boat with Legos:

General sink and float experiments can teach about and demonstrate which materials float in water and which sink. Add some salt to the water to show how buoyancy is different between the ocean and freshwater. Make boats by crafting a pouch out of tinfoil and do "penny test" on those! If you've got a budding engineer on your hands and a bit of ingenuity, you won't have to fight to get him into his next bath!

My own budding engineer also has an artsy side and a love for dramatic play. We were ready to set out to sea--but first we needed some spectacular sails! A bit of blue paint, some easel paper and some foam puzzle pieces and cookie cutters in boat shapes for stamping were just the right tools required to get the job done. S had a lot of fun stamping and decorating some paper to use for sails. Meanwhile, I had already prepped another sheet myself and allowed it time to dry so his grande voyage would not have to wait for paint to dry.

I brought out our laundry basket-turned sail boat and placed it on the wild waters of our living room rug. Captain S decided it needed a steering wheel and used his tinker toys to construct one! (I thought this was a brilliant idea!)

Almost ready to set sail...

S had a great fish tale about sailing in the ocean to the distant lands of "the basement [we don't even have a basement], Seemee, and Ahgo."

"I'm driving my boat!"

 Our laundry shall have to wait because S is very busy in this boat and there are many oceans to cross. Until then, we wish you all smooth sailing and happy playing!

Beyond the Book: "Cars Go" by Steve Light

 Got a car lover on your hands? Maybe a car lover who also loves to play outside? Then Steve Light's Cars Go is the perfect book to pack up and go with for a sunny afternoon of story stretcher fun. If you read our post the other day on Planes Go, then you're already familiar with the style of these fabulously illustrated and alliterated transportation themed books. They are great for inspiring dramatic play and story dramas and the sound effects will have readers of all ages giggling.

When I was little there used to be a commercial for a hot wheels car wash on TV and between you and me (and the whole blogosphere now), I really wanted that toy. I was kind of terrified of going to the actual car wash, but soaping up toy cars sure looked like fun. And if you've ever seen my husband, you know that the only thing we use men's shaving cream for here is sensory play! That seemed like the perfect medium to add to a dramatic play and sensory bin set up to accompany our reading of Cars Go.

We've had some great weather, so I packed up our book, materials and set up shop out front. What kind of shop, you ask? Why an auto-mechanic shop, of course! Complete with a repairs wing, gas station and car wash. Some of our story stretchers are more interactive and adult-involved. This particular one is designed to set up and run on its own, truly child-led and play based. It's perfect for when you're short on time but also can captivate your little ones' attention for quite a while. You may just want to join in and play, too! (I still kind of want that hot wheels car wash...)

We began by reading together on the front porch while S ate his afternoon snack. Y was very busy catching up on the naps he had avoided all morning! 

We did some review of the letter C and its hard beginning sound as in the word "car" with this letter tracing activity

You really shouldn't let your babies play with gas cans, but this DIY play prop is constructed from a recycled laundry detergent container and, um, yes, an old CPAP hose (because you probably also shouldn't let your babies play with durable medical equipment, but...)

Our auto shop included larger cars (riding toys), hard hats and construction vests (purchased from a secondhand shop), toy tools and a three year old's infinite imagination...

He was so busy repairing cars and filling them with gas, he didn't even remember he wanted to also go for a bike ride until it was time to go inside for dinner. We compromised with bringing the riding toy back in. Did you know our kitchen is also the parking lot outside of S's office? Neither did I! You may want to watch your step while you're making dinner, though...

We have the ever familiar collection of hot wheels cars here...they are perfect for playing about traffic jams and races and driving across hardwood floors. They are great in play dough or kinetic sand or even paint. And they are a whole lot of fun to wash using shaving cream and water (dyed blue with food coloring). I included a variety of sponges and scrub brushes for washing and experimenting with...

Our toy raceway was a perfect way to zoom and dry...and also make a soapy slip and slide. Squeezing the sponge was so much fun for S. He observed how the soapy water dripped down the ramp (and built those tiny fine motor muscles while he was at it). I cut a standard kitchen sponge in half to make it easier for him to hold.

Transportation themed play and learning is something we love repeating here. We've done longer units with it as a stand-alone theme and included it in themes like our Around the World unit and our Community Helpers unit. The many ways we get from place to place, both near and far, are a fascinating part of every day life. S loves talking about everything from traffic lights to the construction vehicles he sees as we drive around town. I personally did not get my drivers license until I was 30 and am not quite ready for either of my boys to actually take the wheel anytime soon--but I know they will love to play and read about it until then. Steve Light is a wonderful author to introduce to budding backseat drivers. Time flies faster than a jet plane or a race car and soon enough, S and even Y will be begging to get their learners' permits. But until then, we'll be happily playing (and reading)!

Join us next week for a wild rumpus of a story stretcher...

Beyond the Book: "Planes Go" by Steve Light

 After a recent visit to the Virginia Air & Space Center, S was enthusiastic about doing a story stretcher with an airplane theme. Steve Light is one of my favorite authors and illustrators when it comes to transportation themed children's books. His book Planes Go has bold and brilliant illustrations featuring a different type of plane on each page and very simple text that encourage repetition and some really fun (and funny) sound effects!

 This board book and its transportation themed counterparts are a fabulous resource for transportation loving toddlers! Although the text is simple and repetitive, it introduces a variety of fabulous vocabulary words so your toddler can appropriately correct the next time you confuse a jet plane with a propeller plane.

Air travel and a child's imagination can take
you as far as the moon and beyond! We had a
great family visit to the Virginia Air & Space
Center that inspired our most recent story stretcher...

S has really looked forward to our story stretcher afternoons each week. (So have I!) We've done a lot of play activities with a transportation theme prior and even a great Around the World unit earlier this year. I see no need to reinvent the wheel (pun intended) every time we bring out a book with a common theme. While adults crave novelty, children thrive on repetition in addition new experiences. In setting up our story stretcher, I did a bit of preparation and Pinterest perusing. I also dug out some of our old favorites.

I introduced our target book at our afternoon snack time while Y finished his nap. When reading books with limited text like this, I like to use the opportunity to track the words with my pointer finger as I read so that children can begin to associate the letters with words and the words with the story that is being told. We read through the book once and then I asked S if he had a favorite plane in the book. He asked to read through it again and picked the jet plane because his Tatty works for a company that manufactures jet engines. I picked the blimp because I love making the sound! Next I told S that I had a book we both could read.

 He loves using emergent readers. At three years old, he is a bit young to be working on sight words in my opinion. I first offered the opportunity to him last year when I was preparing for and teaching an early literacy class to pre-k aged children. S took to it right away! He enjoys the opportunity to mimic me as we track the text from left to right with our pointer fingers. He knows what I tell all my early readers: there are many ways to read a book. You can read it through recognizing pictures, letters and eventually words and sentences. There are always many clues on a page and in some way or another, we are all readers no matter how much we already know and how much we have yet to learn. Fostering confidence in reading and inspiring interest is always the most important goal I have in mind. Since we are reading Planes Go this week and will be reading Cars Go as well, I printed and provided us each with copies of "You Can Go!" available for free at Hubbard's Cupboard. I pointed out the word "Go" in Planes Go and in the emergent reader. S loved finding it with his pointer finger on each page and identifying through the illustration what type of transportation ended the sentence "You can go in a_____."

Before we continued with some table activities related to our book, it was time to get up and moving. I always like to get a good stretch in during a story stretcher using theme related songs and action rhymes.

We brought back a favorite song from our previous Around the World unit, sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"

S and Y both loved singing "I'm a Little Airplane" available for print at DLTK's Crafts for Kids.
Next it was time for a fun learning activity to introduce prepositional language. I love using games and fun activities to expand language development and vocabulary. We recently had a great time acting out the prepositional language in Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. For this activity, I printed out and laminated these adorable templates available at No Time For Flashcards. I used a magnet to affix the pages onto a cookie sheet and hot glued a magnet to the back of an airplane mini eraser. I found this in a set from the Dollar Tree, but if you do not have a little plane on hand, the free printable set does come with airplane graphics as well. I love expanding S's vocabulary when it comes to position words. It's hugely helpful when it comes to telling him to "put his book on the shelf" or that his "toy screw driver is next to the kitchen set." The more ways our toddlers and preschools have to communicate with us, the better!
Some of the words in this activity were new to S and he seemed a little unsure of himself at first but felt very proud and confident to correctly place his airplane beside, above, below and between the clouds on each page. I am being mindful to use these new words in conversation throughout the day as well.

Now it was time for a craft! S has really been working on using liquid glue from a squeeze bottle and is doing so well with it, so I set out a shape collage to create his own airplane along with some cotton ball clouds to glue on.

He also had a lot of fun with this sticker sorting activity to identify things that "can fly" and things that "cannot fly:"

We were finally joined by an awake little brother who was ready to take our story stretcher to the skies in some fun air travel themed dramatic play!

I popped on some John Denver in the background, starting with the classic "Leaving on a Jet Plane." S was very busy enjoying the flight snacks! Y was put in charge of collecting tickets (raffle tickets that are super fun to tear and dole out to your little brother). 

Almost ready for lift off...

Please keep your trays in upright position and your seat-belts fastened at all times until the captain turns off the fasten seat-belt sign...

Some empty bags, backpacks and lunch boxes inspired S to think about what he might pack on plane ride.

He deciced we'd need plenty of snacks from his toy kitchen in case we landed in a place without kosher food!

Our story stretcher closed with some free time to play in this airplanes and clouds (cotton balls) sensory bin while I heated up our dinner. After dinner S and Y had a great time playing outside with a Styrofoam plane and my two little travelers were sufficiently tuckered out. (So were their parents.) Luckily, when you read Planes Go, you get all the fun and benefits of air travel without any of the jet lag!

We'll be back on the ground with some fun and themed play with the book Cars Go also be Steve Light next time.
Until then...happy playing!