Transport Lesson For Kids & Toddlers – Dance & Movement

Kids love anything to do with trains, trucks, airplanes, and helicopters so it is no wonder that these lessons and creative dance classes I have developed around this theme are so popular with children!

The words transport or transportation are concepts. Something that our brains create an understanding of from the information we learn and gather, images we see or create ourselves in our minds and our experiences. Because it is a concept and not something physical you can identify such as a car or train it is harder for our brains to connect meaning to. The more we expose children to a concept the better they become at understanding what it entails.

When your child engages in these dance classes not only are they getting fit and developing their gross motor skills, they are also adding to their experiences of understanding the concept of transport and transportation in new ways.

Dance is also a subject in itself that needs to be covered in many school curriculums so I have also supplied some educational outcomes to show how participating in these lessons can help to meet educational curriculums as well!

And if you skip down further on the page, you will find some common answers to parents questions about teaching transport to kids and a list of educational ideas that you could do in relation to these lessons which are a great resource not only for parents but also for homeschoolers and teachers in the classroom to see how these lessons can be used to complement learning.

LESSON 1: CARS, TRAINS & AEROPLANES

This first lesson creatively explores moving in ways that represent a car, train, and plane and uses music carefully selected to help ignite the imagination and provide a beat and rhythm to dance to.

LESSON 2: TRUCKS, HELICOPTERS, BOATS

The second lesson invites kids to come along for a ride as we drive trucks and bounce to the beat of the music, spin and twirl like helicopters and sway and swing like boats on the ocean. My kids Sydney and Xavier helped me film this video and I am grateful the extra movement ideas that they contribute especially their break dance-like moves during the helicopter portion of the video. I really hope it inspires more movement ideas and choices in your kids too!

Click here to go straight to a playlist on Youtube of dance classes by Move Dance Learn Don’t forget to subscribe to get notifications as so you know when the next lesson is available!

A simple explanation of transport for toddlers and preschoolers

To move from one position to another.

The word transport can be used as both a verb or a noun. The simple explanation above describes the word as a verb. If you use the word transport as a noun you are using it as an umbrella term to describe all types or modes of transportation.

A simple explanation of transportation for toddlers and preschoolers

Transportation is the act of moving from one place to another.

Transportation is a noun. Nouns are people, places and things.

How do you explain transportation to preschoolers or toddlers?

To explain transportation to preschoolers and toddlers you need to give them experiences, look at images, and talk about all the different forms of transport so they can develop in their brains the concept of it. For example, You can walk or cycle on a bike, ride on a bus, drive in your car, take a trip on a train, look at photos of boats or planes and read books about trucks with your child and whilst doing this make sure you use the word transport and transportation a lot and explain that it is a form of transport. This will help your toddler or preschooler over time solidify in their mind the concept of transportation.

What are the different types of transport?

The question what are the different types of transport can be answered in different ways first by mode and then by modality or by divividing transport into categories dependent on how they are powered.

You can answer that the different types of transport by mode are:

• air
• land
• water
• pipeline
• rail
• cable/wire
• space
  
  or
  
• mechanically-powered
• animal-powered
• human-powered

You could also say that the different types of transport by modality include:

LINKS TO THE CURRICULUM

As a teacher in Australia with a Bachelor of Education (Primary), I am always looking at ways to creatively teach children and regularly used dance and movement in my classroom to enforce learning of concepts and material we were learning about in different areas of the school curriculum.

The following are some links and connections that can be made from this movement lesson to various other areas of learning!

Mathematics and Arithmetic

• Count cars or trucks driving up and down a street or in a parking lot.
• Create a graph of the different colored cars you see drive past your street, neighborhood or in a parking lot to see which is the most popular color.
• Look at statistics and graphs on the web and interpret these about the number of cars being made today or statistics on road or air safety.
• Learn about how speed is measured and use this knowledge to explore addition, subtraction and multiplication problems.
• Explore transportation timetables and try to work out how to get from one place to another.

English and Literacy

• Create a spelling list full of transportation words.
• Develop a list of adjectives and verbs to describe various forms of transport.
• Write a recount or retelling about a car ride, train, boat or plane trip you have been on.
• Write a fictional story about a magical car, plane, boat or helicopter and about the adventures it takes you on.
• Research and then write a report or explanation about your favorite form of transport.
• Write an argumentative or persuasive essay regarding transport for example: Why everyone should own an electric car or Why more people should catch public transport instead of driving.

Social Studies

• Learn about the history of transport or a particular type of transport.
• Discover why we need transport.
• Explore the forms of transport you have available to you in your community, suburb, state, country.
• Imagine the future transportation system needs of the future.

Science & Technology

• Look into the design of a form of transport and how it is manufactured and made.
• Design transport of the future.
• Design and make a form of transport – a gocart, a wagon, or even make a miniature remote control car or train etc…
• Fix or repair a bike
• Code and create a game on the computer to do with transport
• How is transport such as helicopters and ambulances used to help save lives – what technology is used on these forms of transports compared to others?

Geography (Links to mathematics as well)

• Look at road maps and create directions to places from your school or home to the shops, hospitals or local cinema.
• Explore train lines on maps – how they are represented, how long they are, the distance between each stop, how many you have locally or in your state.
• Create your own maps of your local area and include bus stops or train lines and stations.
• Take a look at aeroplane routes and what cities and airports are travelled to around the world.
• Can you create a map with the locations of helipads in a city or your state.