3 for the Road
Written By Mary Cleary Kiely
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Car Game 1: Out My Window
ages 3 to 6
Sorting and grouping are hallmarks of the preschool years, so go with it. Breaking the outside scenery into concrete categories allows kids to concentrate and see the trees within the forest, so to speak. Around town, the game also helps kids learn local geography and landmarks.
Prep
Glue a picture to each card-stock square and label it with the name of the object, if desired. Stick a strip of magnet on the back of each square, then store these in plastic bags (grouped by category).
Short Cut: No time to make playing tiles? Use Post-it notes with stickers instead.
Play
Choose a category and put one tile in each space on the Travel Board, then hand it over to your child (older kids can set up the board on their own). Ask her to look out the window and find objects that match the pictures on the board. Every time she spots one, she gets to remove that particular tile from the board and put it back in the bag.
Materials
- Basic Travel Board
- Glue stick
- Pictures in various categories: vehicles (tractor, bus, bike); road signs; landforms (mountain, river, field); landmarks (supermarket, farm, train station); and so on. Use stickers, images from magazines, or printables from Wondertime.com.
- Card stock, cut into 3- by 3-inch squares (you'll want 12 squares for each category)
- Self-adhesive magnetic tape, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
- Sealable plastic bags
