I was asked tonight where I find inspiration and I answered everywhere and that is the truth. My son is so into car models right now, it all started with him noticing the H on a friend’s Honda and slowly it’s developed into a chorus of ” Honda! Chevy ! Audi! BMW! Toy-woda!” every time we drive anywhere. I decided to harness that and work in some phonics.  To say he had a blast is a massive understatement.This would make a great group project too!

1. Gather your materials. You will need a car magazine , some craft paper( or any large piece), a marker, some crayons, scissors and a glue stick.
2. Start by drawing a road on your paper.
3. Add the alphabet with your child, have them tell you what’s next after you write each letter if they are able.
4. Hand them the crayons and have them decorate the road- we kept it simple with grass, yellow markings and black for the road. There is no wrong way to do this.
5. While my son did that I ripped some pages out of the magazine looking for different makes that start with different letters (Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda…) If your child is able to have them search . My son refused to let me do this alone, but he was searching only for Hondas.
6. When I had enough I cut the cars out more carefully.
7. While I did that I handed my son some of the discarded pages for him to practice cutting too, his cutting skills aren’t fine tuned enough yet and if I had given him a car to cut out, it would have been pure frustration , but he felt included by cutting the scraps.
8. Time to glue them on.
9. Choose a car, identify it and identify which letter it starts with. If your child needs some help here is what I did. My son had issues with was I for Infinity. When he did I repeated the sound and said ” like Igloo” by giving hints he was still able to figure it out himself which for most almost 3 year olds is key to their pride. With children who are not identifying sounds yet, tell them which letter it starts with and have them find it on the page.
10. Find the letter on the page.
11. Add glue
12. Add the car.
13. Repeat with all the cars.
14. When all are glued on go through them again and label them with their names.
15. After I taped it to the wall he picked out a car for me, a Mercedes! Good boy!

Song

Little Red Car is one of my most viewed song videos click here to watch it !

Books!

“The Berenstain Bears and the Big Road Race” by Stan and Jan Berenstain shouldn’t be overlooked. Both my son and i really enjoy this book from the ever popular series.  It’s a good story about being persistent and they sneak lots of learning into the rhyming text. Colors, opposites and more can be reinforced by this retelling of the classic tale of the tortoise and the hare.

“Everything I Know About Cars” by Tom Lichtenheld is hilarious! I grabbed it at the library today knowing I would need some car books to pair with this activity and didn’t preview it at all.  All I knew is that it was a book about cars I had never read.  At nap when I finally opened it with my son in his car Pjs- I realized it’s very long, and probably more approriate for 4+.  I didn’t put it down though because after reading this on the first page I was hooked :

A collection of made-up facts, Educated Guesses and silly pictures about Cars, Trucks and other Zoomy things

The author had me at zoomy things. My son only made it through the first few pages, but I couldn’t wait to open it back up after he was asleep.  The book takes the readers through the history of cars ( totally made up) , the basics of road trips, kid designed cars … and ends with a tutorial on how the reader can draw their own made up car. I really liked this book and plan to buy a copy for my 4and 7 year old nephews who will love the humor ( yes some of it is pottyish but still fun) and the illustrations.

” Truck Driver Tom “ by Monica Wellington is one of my son’s picks. The story is simple, Tom and his puppy drive produce from the farm to the market and see the country side and much more along the way. The best part of this book are the fun bright and detailed illustrations, there is a wide variety of trucks, cars , emergency and construction vehicles! Also it’s a great lesson about how our food gets from the farm to us. This author is one I have only discovered since becoming a mom and really wish I had been familiar with her while I was teaching, her books are perfect for 2-5 year olds.