Get a bucket of sidewalk chalk and head to the playground with your class. Invite preschoolers to help you draw roads on the playground blacktop or basketball court. Have students decide where to draw stop signs, stoplights and speed bumps. Preschoolers may suggest drawing in squares for a gas station, restaurant, grocery store or even their houses. Bring out tricycles, mini cars and wagons for students to drive around their new town. Watch out for traffic signs and look both ways before entering an intersection. Got a busy intersection? Allow preschoolers to take turns being a police officer directing traffic. Don't forget to stop by the gas station to get a fill-up from the gas station attendant.
Play "Red Light, Green Light" with preschoolers. Line up students at one end of the classroom or gym. Tell students that when you turn your back and say "green light," they should move toward you. When you say "red light" and turn back around, they have to freeze. Anyone caught moving on the red light must return to the starting line. The first person to touch your shoulder gets to be the caller for the next game.
Create a train track in the classroom. Have students use masking tape or blue painter's tape to create train tracks on the floor around the room. Allow preschoolers to run the tracks around tables and through a dark tunnel. You can make a tunnel by stapling a sheet to the top of a bulletin board and attaching the other end to two chairs placed 1 foot away from the wall. This will create a sloped roof tunnel. Provide train whistles and engineer's hats for students to use. Have preschoolers stand in a line and hold onto each other's shoulders to make a long train. Allow the engineer to lead a journey around the classroom on the train tracks. Don't forget to blow the whistle through the tunnel. Provide time each day for small groups of students to take a train trip around the room.
Get a large appliance box to transform into an airplane. Set the box on the floor so it is longer than it is tall. Tape the ends closed for added support. Cut off the top of the box so the airplane has an open top. Cut a door opening at the front and back of one side of the airplane. If you have a smaller appliance box, cut only one door opening. Place chairs inside the box to act as plane seats. Invite preschoolers to help decorate the airplane. Students may want to use construction paper to create windows and a cockpit control panel. Encourage students to make boarding tickets so they can get on the plane when it is time. Bring in walkie-talkies or old cell phones so students can communicate with the control tower during take-offs and landings. Provide time each day for students to "pretend pilot" their passengers on the ride of their lives. Watch out for the train ahead!
Print off two pictures of a bicycle, car, bus, train, boat and airplane. Glue the pictures on 12 white index cards, one picture per card, to create a transportation matching game. Mix the transportation cards and place them face down on a table. Have students take turns turning over two cards at a time to look for a match. If students find a matching set, they keep the cards. If no match is found, the cards are turned back over and the next person takes a turn. See how many transportation matches each student finds.