Infant/Toddler

Time to talk: When you are focused on driving, it isn’t easy to know what your child is looking at from his car seat in the back. But, driving still presents a good time for building language. Don’t hesitate to talk to your child about the things you see outside the window even if you can’t tell what he’s looking at. If sitting together on a bus you can point things out to him as you talk. Describe the weather, interesting shapes of things like buildings and other structures and landforms that are easily visible, with comments such as “Look at those dark clouds; it looks like it might rain,” or “This is a wide river that we’re crossing on this bridge.”

Describing motion: The time in a vehicle is also an opportunity to support the language of motion, such as going up and down hills, feeling pushed to one side or another as you go around a curve, driving faster or slower, and describing road surfaces based on how they feel, such as bumpy or smooth. Describe what the child may feel with statements like “I feel like I’m leaning backwards as we are going up this steep hill!” Or, as the car is turning, “I feel like I’m leaning way to the side!”

Preschooler/Kindergartner

Describing weather: Wherever you are riding, you and your child can always discuss the weather. The first step is to describe various aspects of the weather—whether or not the sun is visible; the colors, shapes and numbers of clouds; and the various kinds of precipitation. As you do this, you model skills of observation.

Structures: What do the buildings and other structures look like? What are the different shapes you see? Are the buildings all made of the same materials? How can you tell? These are all questions that encourage your child to look carefully and think about structures – their designs and functions.

Follow the moon: Watching the moon is a favorite pastime of children as they ride. On one car or bus ride the moon’s shape can be observed, described and wondered about. Young children are famous for thinking that the moon follows them—after all, at the beginning of the ride they can view it out the window—just as they can at the end of the ride. It seems to have moved along with the car, but of course it hasn’t. Encourage your child to talk about her reasoning.

First Grader/Reader-Writer

Forecasting weather: You’re often able to see wide vistas when you’re riding along, particularly in more rural areas. This provides a good opportunity to talk about weather patterns. As you spy different kinds of cloud formations, make note of them and wonder aloud if some may indicate a change in the weather. For instance, the sun might be shining with a clear blue sky, but off in the distance there is a wall of clouds. Point this out to your child, and ask her “What do you think the weather will be like later? Why do you say that?”

Landforms: Especially when traveling over some distance, there are frequently varieties of landforms such as rivers and mountains. Paying attention to these landforms helps your child think about geology, even if you feel you know very little. Don’t hesitate to encourage your child to describe what he sees. After all, if you’re driving you cannot look carefully yourself, so ask your child to be your eyes. Prompts such as “That mountain is very big. Can you tell me if the trees go all the way to the top?” and “The soil I see has a reddish color. Does all the soil look that way? What other colors do you see?” focus attention on these natural features.

Ice: In much of the country, winter temperatures are low enough to freeze standing fresh water. A particularly interesting sight when riding in these places is what is known as “ice falls,” or water which was flowing at above-freezing temperatures but when frozen appear to be waterfalls frozen in mid-air. These sightings as well as frozen rivers and lakes provide opportunities to begin discussions with your child about what he thinks has happened to make the water look so different now. Your child may or may not know about 32 degrees Fahrenheit as the precise temperature at which water freezes, but these moments can help your child begin to think about the factors that affect matter’s change from one state to another—in this case water’s change from liquid water to solid ice.