Toy Truck Games: Learning through Play

My experience in the Kindergarten classroom has taught me that wee ones love toy truck games.  Racing, following, crashing, lining up, parking, backing up, towing …. and the list goes on!  The amount of imagination, creativity, and pure play that comes from toy truck games is amazing!

Best of all, the trucks or cars can be anything!  I have seen mini carrots zoom and sputter across tables, and shoes race through the halls.  Wee ones are so creative, and it seems somehow or another, throughout a day in the Kindergarten classroom, someone somewhere is playing with toy trucks (real or carrot)

My Sammy and Benjamin both adore playing with trucks and cars at home, just like with our parking lot small world.  I thought it would be fun to keep track of how Sammy played his toy truck games throughout one morning.

Toy Truck Games:

Painters Tape Racetrack

We used painters tape to make a road throughout our family room and around the island in our kitchen.  We love our painters tape!  Painter’s tape makes a fantastic road (we have used it on carpets and furniture as well without an issue).  The toy truck games Sammy played with this road were many.  He simply drove the trucks around and around, chatting away as he went, “No – this way … you follow me … okay I will … we need more gas … no we don’t …. okay … should we crash … yes please … okay … crraaasssshhhh”  It was not my intent, but this road became a ‘Small World’ for Sammy and he became completely absorbed.  (Here is more information on the benefits of Small World Play) After he had driven for awhile, he decided someone had a flat tire and he needed a tow truck, and then a fire truck too.

All of these toy truck games were fantastic for Sammy’s language development and also helped him develop problem solving skills.

Built a Bridge

Throughout his play Sammy decided he needed to build a bridge.  A soft bridge none the less.  So he used his soft blocks and got to building.  He brought them in one at a time using a dump truck – and hammered them with his hammer before placing them along the line – ever so carefully and meticulously.  Though I was not sure of what his ordering strategy was, it was very clear he had one.

The trucks took turns going over the bridge and then being put in a traffic jam.  His long line of cars grew and I began to hear those numbers!  Boy do I love when I hear that counting in play.  I helped out a bit when he was stuck, as we are still working on this skill, but for the most part tried to let him work on his own.

Parking Lot

Finally, everyone was returned safely to the ‘parking lot’.  This parking lot toy truck game wound up being very educational too.  Little trucks, cars and helicopters doubled up in parking spots.  Regular trucks got a single spot.  Big trucks and airplanes could only park in a designated section – and if they took more then 3 parking spaces they were not allowed.  Such a great sorting activity!

Learning through Play is so important for wee ones.  These toy truck games are very educational.  They help wee ones with problem solving, language development, ordering, and sorting.  I try to observe Sammy, or at least listen, some of the time when he is playing independently.  There are often so many wonderful learning opportunities.  Learning through play is fantastic – and it is also great when an adult is close by to extend or help connect that learning.

Learning Tip:  Add letters or numbers to everything!  Tape is great.  By adding letters or numbers to the trucks or blocks your wee one is much more likely to add that learning into his or her play.

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