These transport activity ideas will help you create fun, activity-filled days to keep your child happy. From painting with toy cars and digging in sensory bins with dozers to constructing printable roads, toddlers and preschoolers will have hours of imaginative playtime.
As well as browsing through at all the transportation crafts and activities below you might also want to check out our transportation worksheets. We have a range of hands-on printables for you choose from.
Toddler Transportation Crafts and Activities
Alphabet Roads
Practice letter tracing or letter recognition with your toddler or preschooler using our fun alphabet roads. Use small toy cars to trace along the letter's path. Alternatively, you can also use them as playdough mats for shaping the letters.
Toy Car Parking Garage
If your kiddo has lots of toy cars, you may struggle with how to keep them all organised. The great news is that you can make a diy toy car garage on the cheap! Put one together in no time using empty toilet paper rolls or paper towel tubes and a cardboard box. Your child will love it, and you don't have to worry if it gets damaged because you can make another one easily.
Painting with Toy Cars
Painting with cars can be lots of fun. Use bright paint colours and toy cars and trucks to make colourful prints and tracks on craft paper or a washable surface. Then, you can have a car washing station to clean them all up!
Drawing with Cars
Try drawing with cars with your budding artist. This is a creative way to "draw" by attaching markers to toy cars and pushing them around on the paper. You never know what kind of designs you'll create.
Wheels on the Bus Art for Toddlers
Does your toddler love the Wheels on the Bus song? If so, you have to try this wheels on the bus art activity! It's perfect for singing along whilst getting creative with colourful (and washable) paints.
School Bus Craft
How about a school bus craft made with simple shapes? This school bus notebook is made with rectangles and circles and is so cute. Make a notebook (as shown) for your little one to scribble in, or just make the school bus as a simple papercraft.
School Bus Photo Craft
Our school bus photo craft is terrific for a back to school craft, but it's fun even for toddlers who aren't going off to school yet. They'll love seeing their picture in the bus windows!
Clay Boat Craft
Any little sailor needs a boat to play with! This clay boat craft is an easy project for toddlers or preschoolers that can be as simple or as decorative as you like. You don't even need to get clay that you bake; air-dry clay will work just fine.
Construction Sensory Bin for Toddlers
Keep things really simple with this construction sensory bin for toddlers. Using cheerios as the filler makes this sensory bin taste safe so it is perfect for toddlers who still put things in their mouths.
Sand Foam Construction Sensory Bin
Another really fun construction themed sensory bin that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers is our sand foam sensory bin. Mixing sand and shaving foam together creates a fun texture for vehicles to drive through.
Rocket Craft
Why only think about transport on the ground when you can make a fun rocket craft to zoom off into space! Young children will love making and decorating their own rocket.
Printable Transportation Activities
Take a few minutes to browse through our selection of printable transportation activities . We have lots of fun and interactive transportation printables for you to choose from including transport themed playdough mats, transport sorting activities and alphabet tracks.
Transportation Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Transportation Sensory Bin
Explore the different modes of transportation using this transportation sensory bin activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning. Ships and boats are in a bin of water beads, planes are flying through cotton clouds, and vehicles of all sorts can be found amongst dried black beans. If you want to avoid your toddler mixing the materials, offer them one at a time on separate days.
No-Sew Portable Roads Playset
Busy bags are great for toddlers, and you can imagine how much they'll love this no-sew portable roads playset from And Next Comes L. Add some felt mountains, lakes, pipe cleaner trees, and more, and you have a wonderful quiet time activity that your little one will play with for quite some time.
Printable Roads
Do your toddlers push their vehicles all over the house? Give them some roads to play on! There's no need to go to the shops and buy plastic roads; these printable roads from Picklebums will do quite nicely. You can print as many as you need and have an entire road system placed throughout the house.
Dig Dump Roll Sensory Play
This dig, dump, and roll sensory tray from Finding Myself Young is made with taste-safe materials to go along with the book Dig, Dump, Roll. Kids can add rocks, sticks and letters or just their construction toys for a fun play time experience while engaging in some sensory stimulation!
Transportation Playdough Mats
Playing with playdough is fun, but if your child loves vehicles then these transportation themed mats from Preschool Play and Learn are perfect. Kids will strengthen muscles in their hands and learn new vocabulary while playing!
Transportation Circle Time Song
Singing together is a great way to start the day! This transportation circle time song by Fantastic Fun and Learning is perfect for at home or for using at daycares or preschools. Kids can wave their toys around while they sing the different verses, or you could make puppets for each one.
Transportation Pom Pom Matching Sheets
This super simple, low prep printable transportation pom pom activity sheet from 123 Homeschool 4 Me will engage your toddler's fine motor skills by strengthening their pincher grasp. If your child loves cars or trucks they'll love these transportation activities that strengthen hand-eye coordination while engaging in playful learning.
ABC Transportation Matching Game
Get into the driver's seat with your child and take a spin on this memory-boosting ABC transportation matching game from Homeschool Share. Each card has an alphabet letter paired with its corresponding vehicle, making it easy to identify lots of different letters and vehicles!
Community Helper Puzzles
Police cars, ambulances, school buses, fire trucks, and trash collection trucks make an appearance in these fun and easy printable community helper vehicle puzzles by JDaniel4's Mom. Kids can put the strips in order by number to see the finished product!
Construction Playdough Mats
This fun, hands-on counting activity is great for toddlers. Kids can improve their counting skills with these fun dump truck printable playdough mats from Preschool Play and Learn. Just add playdough to roll into balls, place the correct number on the truck, and you're ready to go! When using this with toddlers, you may need to limit the numbers to 1-5 to get started.
Simple Transportation Sensory Bin
Toddlers will love this transportation sensory bin by Simple Fun for Kids made with coloured rice, dry black beans and dried corn kernels. You can add cars, planes and any other vehicles you have on hand to set up the activity together. Keep a close eye if your toddler still has a tendency to put items in his or her mouth.
Transportation Matching Game
Here's another transportation matching game from Simple Fun for Kids with only the vehicle and the word on each card. Print out the colour version or black and white version—or use both! Matching the black and white vehicles to the coloured version is a great way to extend the activity.
Traffic Light Sensory Soup
Sensory Soup is one of our favourite things to do with kids. It is a great way to work on their fine motor skills, and it's also really fun! This traffic light sensory soup from And Next Comes L is a great way to work on colours and traffic-themed vocabulary, too.
Cardboard Train
Make an awesome cardboard train like this one from One Time Through for your toddler to enjoy for ages to come. This is a great way to make memories with your little one and build something together that they'll get so much fun out of.
Sponge Boats
You can make these sponge boats from The Craft Train to use as bath toys or just for fun in the pool or in a water sensory bin. They're super easy to make using sponges, duct tape, and craft sticks.
Transportation Centers
Pocket of Preschool has some amazing ideas for creating transportation centers in the classroom, but they work for home, too. One of our favourites is this activity for sorting transportation vehicles by land, air, or water. You'll find lots of inspiration for your toddler here!
Egg Carton Train
Pop small toys into this cute egg carton train for hours of fun! This project by The Craft Train is great for a rainy day. Your toddler can help with painting the egg carton pieces and cardboard tubes. Then, they'll love picking out the toys to go in each train car. Pin this post for future reference!
We also have toddler activity plans available on the theme of transportation. These transportation lesson plans for toddlers are filled with fun, hands-on activities that are perfect for children aged 18-35 months. We also have a preschool version.
If you're looking for the perfect way to keep your little one entertained and happy, this list of 25 transportation activities for toddlers and preschoolers will do just that. The best part is they require little preparation—all you need are some materials from around the house or a quick trip to the dollar store.
Which of these transportation crafts or activities do you think your toddler or preschooler will like best?
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