Read books with transportation themes to the children. Books provide a good way to introduce a subject to a group of children. Reading transportation-themed books to the toddlers in the classroom allows the teacher to introduce new transportation-related vocabulary words and new concepts that will develop as the theme progresses. Some transportation-themed books include The Little Engine that Could, Adelaide and the Night Train, The Glorious Flight and How Georgina Drove the Car Very Carefully from Boston to New York.
Initiate a transportation art activity with the children. Give the children pieces of cardboard with a bus drawn on it and small cut-outs of people's faces and show them how to glue the faces in the bus windows. Allow the children to finger-paint large cardboard boxes and place the boxes side by side after the children have finished painting them to "make a train." Allow children to finger-paint or brush-paint newspapers and when the newspapers dry, fold them into paper airplanes or boats and let the children "fly" them, or "float" them in water.
Teach transportation nursery rhymes and finger plays during circle time. Some well-known rhymes, songs and finger plays include "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," "Row, Row Row the Boat" and "Down by the Station." You can also adapt other songs that the children already know to fit the transportation theme. "I'm a Little Teapot" adapts nicely to "I'm a little Airplane".
Engage the children in circle-time discussions and dramatic play to allow them to internalize the theme of transportation. Ask the children to tell the group, one by one, about the modes of transportation that they have used. ("Who has been on an airplane? On a boat?...") Let them act out the process of buying a ticket and traveling on a particular type of transportation. Facilitate a group discussion about safety in the car, especially the importance of wearing a seat belt. Talk about what children can do to help their parents remember to use seat belts. Don't use the word "accident" or in any way traumatize the children. Talk about how a seat belt will protect them from "jumping around" if another car "bumps" their car.