I love talking about transportation in summer or round the holidays because many of my families are traveling! The week after our storytime about Going Places, we talked about how do you get to places, anyways? Where do you walk? Where do you drive? Why?
Welcome & Set Expectations
*Sing: Bread & Butter
Read: Giant Pop Out Vehicles
Love this whole pop-out series! Wish they weren’t out of print and so hard to get hold of. I live in unholy terror that one of my copies will rip.
Flannel: Matching Vehicles/Settings
Sometimes I play this as a guessing game and give clues (found in Kathy MacMillan’s Storytime Magic), but this time we just talked about the different vehicles and where they go. Does a car belong in the ocean? Why not?
After we put all the vehicles in the right place, I asked a few more questions: Which one is best for fishing on a lake? Which one is best for going to the grocery store? Etc.
*Sing: If You’re Ready for a Story
Read: Truck Full of Ducks by Ross Burach
Before reading this book, I told the kiddos our next story would be about a special truck. I pulled books out of my bag and asked them to help me find the right one – do you think this book is about a truck? No? How can you tell?
The older kiddos especially enjoyed the silliness in this story. And that tension towards the end – the room was so silent as the truck edged through the forest to the wolf’s den!
Rhyme: Put Your Hands Up High x2
My littles had some wiggles, so we did this fun rhyme twice:
Read: Toad on the Road by Stephen Shaskan
Think this was the fan favorite! The repetition really helps kiddos read along. It’s a fantastic book for print awareness, too.
After reading, we talked Toad’s poor life choices. How can you tell when it’s safe to cross the road? The crosswalk sign!
Flannel: Road Signs
As I put the signs on the flannelboard, we talked about what they were for, starting with the crosswalk. We ended with the stop light, which was the perfect transition to our action song.
Lit Tip: Print Awareness & Environmental Print
Grown-ups, the signs you see every day make a great bridge to reading! When you point out the words and letters you see on signs, like “Look at the STOP sign! It starts with letter S! Wow, letter S is really curvy, it almost looks like a snake.” You help your child understand the connection between the words they HEAR and the squiggly print symbols they SEE. You need to understand that those symbols have meaning before you can learn to read!
Sing: Green, Yellow, Red by Music with Mar (shakers)
This is such a fun stop and go song! I love songs like this because they really help kids build listening skills and self regulation. This song seems to be universally adored by everyone, from my babies to my grown-ups.
Learning Through Play
*Please visit this page to learn more about my regular storytime songs and routines.
Storytime in the Stacks 
Oh my goodness, yes, I feel the same way about those giant pop out books!! 😀
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