Construction

Last week our theme was Construction. At first, I was not sure how the theme would go over with the little ones. But then I had regulars coming to several days of storytimes telling me they had seen a "digger" or a "roller" (road steam roller) while out and about. It is moments like that when you realize that, even when you don't think they're paying attention, they are soaking everything up like little sponges. 

Books:

Toddler Books:

Tip Tip Dig Dig - Emma Garcia

The Construction Crew - Lynn Meltzer

Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night - Brianna Caplan Sayres

Trucktown Race from A to Z - Jon Scieszka 

Preschool Books:

Tip Tip Dig Dig - Emma Garcia

Mighty Dads - Joan Holub

The Construction Crew - Lynn Meltzer

Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night - Brianna Caplan Sayres

Trucktown Race from A to Z - Jon Scieszka 

Construction - Sally Sutton

Rhymes/Fingerplays/Songs:

Five Little Nails:

Five little nails standing straight and steady,

Get your hammers ready!

Bam, Bam, Bam! That nail goes down.

Now there's just four nails to pound.

(count down to zero)

Source: Mel's Desk

*I changed it slightly from the original version. It worked better when I had the kids pretend to be hammering with me as a great big construction crew. I used a clip art picture of a nail (enlarged and copied 5 times), laminated the nails, and then put Velcro backing on them to put up on the flannel board.

Construction Song (tune: "Wheels on the Bus"):

The backhoe on the lot goes dig, dig, dig,

Dig, dig, dig; Dig, dig, dig.

The backhoe on the lot goes dig, dig, dig.

Digging all day long.

(make a digging motion during verse)

The dump truck takes the dirt and dumps it out,

Dumps it out; Dumps it out.

The dump truck takes the dirt and dumps it out.

Moving all day long.

(make a dumping motion, or have caregivers tip to the side with toddlers)

The big cement mixer goes round and round, 

Round and round; Round and round.

The big cement mixer goes round and round,

Mixing all day long.

(Roll hands round and round for this verse)

The noisy jackhammer goes up and down.

Goes up and down; Goes up and down.

The noisy jackhammer goes up and down.

Digging all day long.

(Move hands up and down, or have caregivers lift toddlers for the motion)

Source: We had a version of this in my flannel drawer. I made some slight adjustments for our storytime. Again, you could use laminated clip art of each tool/vehicle for your storytime flannel board. We also did the actions to go along with each verse. 

Toolbox Hiding Game:

Bob the Builder likes his ______ (tool name) lots and lots,

Is it hiding behind the ________ (color) toolbox?

Source: One of my fabulous LA's. She came up with this rhyme - and what little kid does not love Bob the Builder?!

*I found a black-and-white toolbox online, saved the file, enlarged it, and made 6 different colored toolboxes. It is much easier to play hiding games with laminated objects than flannel objects. Then you just find clip art of easily recognized tools - like a hammer, wrench, or screwdriver. We used multiple tools so the kids got to learn the names of different tools during storytime.