Inside: Looking for toddler and preschool transportation theme books? Here are our favorites for the home and classroom!
There are a lot of fun transportation books for toddlers and preschoolers.
In fact, it can be downright hard to choose which ones to include!
But during the many years I’ve been a teacher, I’ve come up with a list of favorites that I love to bring out year after year for our preschool transportation theme.
In fact, some are out throughout the year regardless of our theme because they are favorites with our children.
The first selection is what I am reading with my 2 and young 3 year olds.
These are simpler (mostly board) books, some that have peek-a-boo flaps.
The second section is geared more for preschoolers, most with more detailed text.
Toddler and Preschool Transportation Theme Books That We Love
Here are the books we will be reading this year with our 2 and young 3 year olds:
Vroom, Vroom, Trucks!
Our younger children love lift-the-flap books! This collection includes a bulldozer, cement truck, crane, dump truck and an excavator.
Pop-Up Peekaboo! Things That Go
Here is another lift-the-flap book that is filled with illustrations of all sorts of vehicles that move.
Planes
Explore different types of airplanes, from seaplanes to crop dusters to planes that write messages in the sky. The short text is perfect for toddlers!
Machines at Work
A simple book with rhythmic text about what happens at a construction site as workers gather.
Little Blue Boat
Ride with the Little Blue Boat and meet all kinds of ocean animals including dolphins, seals, otters, sharks and more!
Vroom
This board book includes simple, rhyming text with fun, 3-D areas on each page.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car
What happens when Little Car isn’t ready to go to sleep? Watch him cruise around town saying goodnight to all of his friends.
I Love Trains
Learn about all the different types of cars a train engine can pull.
Transportation Books for Preschoolers
Here are more books for your transportation theme that we have enjoyed over the years. Many of these are more suitable for preschoolers since they are longer than the above selection.
Roadwork by Sally Sutton
Our preschoolers love the sounds that are included in this book, such as screek!, squelch!, and swish! A fun rhyming book that truck lovers especially adore.
If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen
Jack has an amazing imagination as he designs a car that is loaded with fun features!
My Truck is Stuck! by Kevin Lewis
What happens when a truck gets stuck? Another favorite every year in our preschool classroom!
Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough
This is one of our favorite books! We love the rhyming words as all of duck’s friends work to get duck’s truck out of the muck.
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Little Blue is well loved by our preschoolers (and our todders, too). They especially love this book because of all of Little Blue’s animal friends, and how they try to get him out of the mud.
Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
This is such a favorite construction book that it inspired me to create a construction sensory bin for our toddlers and preschoolers!
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
This book is just as funny as all the other Pigeon books and has our children laughing as we read each page.
The Wheels on the Bus by Raffi
This is a favorite, especially with our youngest preschoolers, that we read (and sing) all year long, not just during our transportation theme.
Trains by Byron Barton
The simple text and illustrations make this book perfect for younger children, especially those that love trains. As the train moves through the town, we learn about different types of trains and what they do.
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
This classic story is about a train that is filled with toys and encounters challenges during her travels to children on the other side of the hill.
Freight Train by Donald Crews
Our preschoolers are drawn to the bright colors in this book … red caboose, green cattle car, black tender …A fun way to build color recognition skills!
Trains by Gail Gibbons
We love this book because it helps our train lovers learn about a train’s parts with detailed pictures.
Row Row Row Your Boat by Iza Trapani
This is a fun sing-along book that we enjoy during circle time.
Boats by Byron Barton
Super simple for young readers, this board book shows different kinds of boats with colorful illustrations.
Flying by Donald Crews
Younger children will love the minimal text and bright illustrations while watching a plane’s journey.
Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker
We not only move around Earth, but also into space! This is a fun book that shows how powerful rockets can be as they whiz into outer space.
Toddler and Preschool Transportation Lesson Plans
We’ve done the work for you! We now have interactive thematic lesson plans for toddlers (18-35 months) AND preschoolers (3-5 years)!
Get ready for fun and learning with unit lesson plans for transportation.
Explore a variety of themed hands-on activities!
Easy to follow lesson plans include activity modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.
For more information, click on the graphics below:
