Theme Week: Let’s Construct Some PreK Learning!
The two intersecting major roadways in my area have all been under renovation recently. Some are repaved while others are completely rebuilt. An old church is currently being demolished. New houses are popping up everywhere. Construction is all around us. And the kiddos are amazed by it all.
Even before all of this construction began, the kids were fascinated with the concept. They announce every single concrete mixer and dump truck they see on the road. One of the boys was obsessed with skid steers at one point. They love digging and building. Blanket forts keep appearing throughout the house. As I type this, two of them are building with Legos.
Many children are interested in some kind of construction process, so this week’s theme is, of course:
CONSTRUCTION
Did you know that you can learn from construction? And I’m not just talking about the math involved in measuring. We’ve done this theme a few times, and there are so many activities that teach letters, numbers, STEAM, fine and gross motor skills, and even sharing and working together.
Digging the Alphabet
When the two boys first starting learning from set lessons, the girls and I decided it would be fun to hide foam letters in the sandbox. The boys had fun digging them back up. What makes this activity so memorable for us is that, somewhere in that sandbox, there is still one lonely foam letter J. We only recently (three years later) found the other missing letter we couldn’t find that same day. So my advice for this fun activity is to use a small box of sand or dirt rather than a large, in-ground area.
For older kids, you can have them find specific letters to spell out words. I did this with the girls using letter beads in a jar of crafting sand. They raced to find the letters in their names and place them in the correct order. It was a lot easier, but the beads were small enough that I kept a very close eye on the girls to make sure none made it into their mouths.
Driving Numbers
Teaching counting and number recognition using a construction theme is almost too easy. Beyond measuring items, you can count tools or materials, build using a specific number of blocks, and many more. For our most recent lesson, I created roads for toy cars in the shapes of numbers 0-9. It was time-consuming and at times frustrating, so feel free to download my template below. I printed them on cardstock to help them withstand the cars. You can also laminate them. Then find a car or two and let your child practice recognizing and writing the numbers in a fun way!
Preschool-Sized Engineering Projects
My preschooler loves to build, so we did two engineering lessons for this theme. The first was creating a house using toothpicks and mini marshmallows. It took a few tries for him to figure out how to do it, and his building ended up leaning. But he did it mostly by himself!
And because out theme has to do with building things, we had to get out the magnetic tiles. His favorite thing to build is a 4-sided tower as tall as possible before it falls over. This time, however, I gave him the instructions to build a road. It turned out to be more of a track since we had to add barriers to keep the cars from veering. We also built a ramp at the beginning to give the cars some speed. He did most of the creating and building with a little help from me, and then he played with it for the next hour!
Scientific Foundation
One of the most common materials used in general construction is concrete. It is what makes foundations, floors, walls, pillars, and sometimes entire buildings. There are videos all over the Internet that show craft projects you can do with quick-dry cement. For my kiddos, however, they learned how to make true construction-grade concrete.
For most of my childhood, my dad worked for a concrete business. He was able to let me experience the different aspects of the job and even let me help with a few of the safer jobs. He also taught me the basic recipe that they used, but on a much smaller scale.
So when we did a theme that went along with it, I passed on the recipe to the four children I care for. It is a science project that should be done outside given the materials used and the mess it makes. However, it is simple enough for even toddlers to help with.
The materials you need are:
Something to mix everything in. We used a 5-gallon bucket. I strongly suggest not using a container that you plan to use again in the future.
A heavy-duty stirrer. A paint stick or something similar works well.
Molds – As a kid myself, we built our own molds of wood or used Styrofoam cups. For my kids, we used plastic crafting molds. Any shaped molds used for cement crafts will work.
Equal parts of gravel, sand, dry cement, and water. Make sure the gravel is small. Larger rocks to not let it set up right, which is fine if you have a longer time to let it dry. The cement has to be dry powder, which you can get from a concrete business. Start with 1 cup of each for a small batch. Since I had four kids doing it, we did 4 cups of each.
The instructions are simple. Dump it all into your bucket or bowl and mix until it’s all combined. It should be a thick soupy consistency. Then pour it into the molds. We added decorative gems to ours. You can also carve your child’s name into it. Let it dry in the sun for at least 24 hours. Once dry, take it out of the mold (the mold might break at this point, which is fine) and paint it or display as is. Ours ended up in the garden!
Colorful Hammering
Whether it be a stick against the ground or spoons on pans, kids love to make noise by hitting things. What construction tool let’s you hit something? A hammer! Thankfully, you can get plastic toy hammers anywhere you can find pretend play sets. I discovered a fun yet messy activity that uses hammers to break apart colorful ice cubes.
Some websites have instructions for freezing toys inside ice cubes for kiddos to excavate. For our lesson, I froze regular cubes of water colored with food coloring. When they were completely frozen, approximately 24 hours later, I placed them on a baking tray and took it outside. I should note that the chunks did not stay on the tray for long. Every hit sent pieces flying across the driveway. I do not recommend doing this activity inside since it is so difficult to control the mess.
We did this activity before the oldest boy started school, so both boys were able to smash the ice with their plastic hammers. They raced to see who could destroy the most cubes and make the smallest pieces. All while laughing and squealing in enjoyment! They had so much fun with it that they didn’t realize they were working on hand-eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills, and a bit of science.
Crafting with Construction Tools
Need a craft idea to go along with the theme? Check out this fun craft using contact paper!
There are so many construction-themed activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Share some ideas you’ve done in the comments below!
