I can’t take full credit for this craft, instead I must admit it’s inspired by an episode of Team Umizoomi ( a show I just love). I like crafts like this because it allows my son to manipulate the shapes , as you will see though his favorite part was the cutting step, it went on forever! Even if your child isn’t into bulldozers find something they love and see if you can break it down into shapes.
- Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper in 4 colors ( brown, black, yellow and green), some kid scissors, adult scissors, markers or crayons and glue.
- Start by drawing a square, rectangle, and crescent on the yellow paper.
- Draw circles on the black.
- Invite your child to draw a construction site. The older they are the more time they will likely take, don’t fret if they make a scribble or two and declare that they are finished.
- Hand them the brown paper and tell them that’s the dirt and they will be making piles so they need to cut it into small pieces.
Mine cut.
And cut.
And cut.
- While they cut , cut out the shapes.
- Time to glue – woo hoo!
- Add your shapes.
- Add glue for the cut paper dirt.
- Add the dirt too and let dry.
Construction Books !
Machines at Work by Byron Barton is a bold and bright book that is perfect for toddlers who are obsessed with construction vehicles. The text is brief but effective. My son loved this book as an infant , at 2 he enjoyed reading it, as well as counting the workers and trucks on each page. Now at almost 4 he will still grab it and read it to his imaginary friend Sammy who ” can’t read yet”. All in all it’s been well loved over the years !
Road Builders by B.G. Hennessy was a birthday gift for my son in November and he was not interested at first. Maybe because of the plethora of lego that was taking over our house – however it has since become such a favorite he recently “read” it to my sister’s dog. It’s a story all about how a road is built , explaining what the crew does, and how each type of construction vehicle has a different role in building a road. I like that it explains the process from start to finish, in just the right level of detail for preschoolers. I also like that there is a female crew member and her participation is seamless .
Construction Countdownby K.C Olson is a counting book that uses backhoes, dump trucks and cement mixers among other things to count. Before I even closed the book my son was signing for more. I read it 4 times since getting it out of the library today. A huge hit here! <– That was written in 2008 and now over 2 years later my son still likes this book and has grown with it, now doing the counting all by himself.
Cara says
What a simple and fun project for any truck loving boy! We checked Machines at Work out from the library earlier this year, and my son still quotes that book with phrases like, “Knock down that building!
” and “Bulldoze that tree!” We own Construction Countdown, and I’m using it daily right now to work on number recognition and counting (though the count-down aspect is a little much for my guy right now…sometimes we start at the back!)
.-= Cara´s last blog ..Sugar Cookie Bars =-.
admin says
I love hearing that other kids loves these books too . I like the idea of reading it from the end for younger kids too!
Steph @ The Helping Mommy says
Love this craft! We are big fans of Team Umizoomi here, too. You could probably use a large piece of butcher paper and make a big banner and a whole bunch of different trucks for a huge construction scene….awesome! (Guess what we’ll be doing today!)
.-= Steph @ The Helping Mommy´s last blog ..Gentle Reminders and iFellowship =-.
admin says
Great idea!
polwig says
Cute craft and I love the book ideas. Looking for cute books for my son specifically. I have boy/girl twins so a lot of things in my house are gender neutral.
Coby says
Awesome! We are making mini-lapbooks this week…having todo with bulldozers! This is perfect!!!
Cathy @ NurtureStore says
This is just like our house at the moment. Everytime we have the scissors out L will be busy for ages snipping away to make a little pile of pieces 🙂
Lauren says
We were inspired by this today. I wrote a blog post about it. Thanks!
http://lar1203-alittlebirdy.blogspot.com/2010/08/john-deere-greeeeeeeen.html
Mary says
We made this craft yesterday and it was a HUGE hit! My son is the exact same age as yours, so he loves Team Umizoomi, too! Thanks for the ideas. Now he wants to do a whole construction line.
JDaniel4's Mom says
We are huge into construction equipment at my house. These books look great!
Melly says
We made this craft today and the garbage truck one yesterday. My son also requested an ambulance so we pulled out some white paper and red paper and did one of those too…Thanks so much for sharing!
Laurie says
We had a great time with this yesterday! I blogged about it at sibleyweb.wordpress.com Thanks for the wonderful ideas!
.-= Laurie´s last blog ..Were Moving! maybe =-.
Leah says
I just did this with my 3 1/2 yr old boy… he loved it! Thanks for the great idea.