1. Ask your child to use art supplies to draw or build a place they would like to visit. How could we get there? Train? Boat? Spaceship? What would we see there that is different from where we live? What would be the same?
2. When playing with a toy car or train, ask your child to notice what surfaces make the toy go faster or slower. Will the car move faster on a flat, smooth surface like the coffee table or a bumpy, rough surface like the sidewalk? What happens if we try to roll the car on carpet or a towel?
3. When making paper airlines, ask your child to predict what makes a plane fly better or worse: will bigger or smaller, wider or thinner planes fly best? Then, build and test!

With younger children, try using a love of transportation to encourage them to think about how things move and practice direction words like forward, backward, right, and left. Or other directional and spatial words like over, under, and through. Turn chairs into a DIY trolley just like we see in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and have your child narrate where the trolley goes, what they see, and who they meet. Have a toy car or two lying around? Use vehicle playtime to brush up on number recognition or introduce basic science concepts.

With older children, use marbles or toy cars to create a roller coaster and explore the concepts of gravity and friction. This activity helps children understand how pushes and pulls can cause objects to move. Create your own tunnels and roads playset to think about how transportation helps move people and things from place to place. Encourage your child to continue thinking like a scientist by testing out different versions of paper airplanes.