Are you ready to “build” a construction theme in your preschool classroom or homeschool? Keep reading for the most skill-building construction preschool activities around!
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CONSTRUCTION PRESCHOOL ACTIVITIES
One of the best themes to teach (whether you’re homeschooling or teaching in a preschool or kindergarten classroom) is Construction. Little ones LOVE building and construction activities! They love big trucks, diggers, tools, and more. These types of toys lead to constructive play and STEM exploration. So get your tools and put on your construction apron…it’s time to build new skills!
Keep reading for over 20 construction activities for your preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. These ideas include literacy, math, fine and gross motor skills, sensory play, snacks, and more! Grab your printables for math & literacy here. Oh, and there’s a freebie, too!
If you want a copy of my yearly themes (including an editable version where you can type in your own themes), check out this freebie. (*Please note: You will need to download this file to your computer and then open it with Adobe in order to add your own themes. You cannot add your themes from your web browser.)
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES: LITERACY
Before you get started with your construction theme, make sure you have your books all ready to go! You can check out our favorite books for this theme in this post. There are almost 50 books for you to choose from! Make sure to request these from your local library (or order them from Amazon) a few weeks before you start your theme.
You’re definitely going to want to start your construction theme with these vocabulary cards! Do your littles know the difference between a nail and a screw? How about a forklift and a road roller? These cards are the perfect way to introduce your learners to the 15 construction-related words they’ll be learning about over the course of this theme. You can use these vocabulary cards in your writing center, as a Write the Room activity, or as a picture match.
Listening for the two words that make up a compound word is a great way to practice phonological awareness. I love telling my students they’re going to build a word out of two smaller words to help them visually see what a compound word is.
If there’s one skill our students need more practice with to set a strong foundation for reading, it’s rhyming! The more rhyming you can do with your little ones, the stronger listening skills they’ll have. That way, when it comes time to hear the individual sounds in a word, your learners will be ready!
This fun activity has little ones sorting picture cards that either end with /at/ or /it/. You can print out the dump trucks and attach them to a box (we used a cut-up tissue box) to spark their imagination & increase the engagement.
After you’ve sorted the picture cards, help your little one spell the words. First, you’ll want to have them segment all the sounds in the word orally. Then help them match the letter that spells each sound. (We love this set of letters). For more step-by-step directions on how to do this correctly, check out this YouTube video.
This activity involves more picture sorting. This time your littles will be listening for the vowel sound in CVC words. You can attach the vowels to toilet paper rolls taped to the wall for a more hands-on element to the picture sorting. For more advanced littles, have them use letters to spell out the pictures and place them under the correct vowel sound.
Recognizing, spelling, and writing your name are key components to any preschool curriculum. The more practice your child gets, the better prepared they will be for kindergarten. This editable activity allows you to print the letters of your little one’s name on pieces of road. Then they can put the pieces of road together in the correct order and drive/walk along their name road.
Want more tips for teaching your child their name? Check out this post!
Remember the name road your little one created? They can turn that into a “Sounds Town” by finding objects around the room that start with one of the letters in their name.
Not all handwriting practice should be letters and numbers. In fact, before little ones can write their letters and numbers, they should be able to make different types of lines: straight lines, curvy lines, wavy lines, jagged lines, and more! Tracing these lines is the first step to correct letter formation later on. Learn more about writing development in this YouTube video.
A valuable skill for littles to learn is being able to sort/classify items based on their similarities and differences. In this activity, your little one will identify which picture doesn’t belong with the other three. Have them tell you WHY it doesn’t belong. For more advanced practice, have your little give you a suggestion for a replacement for the one that doesn’t belong.
According to research by Piasta, Petscher, & Justice (2012), the optimal benchmark for students entering kindergarten is knowing 18 uppercase letter names and 15 lowercase letter names. The research also states that little ones have a preference for uppercase letters, so giving them plenty of exposure to lowercase letters is important. This activity has your little one working on matching uppercase letters with lowercase letters. As they get more proficient, they can tell you what sound each letter makes. They can even find a picture that starts with the letter sound.
Let’s see which truck gets to the top of the column first! Have your little one spin the spinner, say the beginning sound of the truck’s name, then find the letter that spells that sound. They will trace the letter in the column and spin again. Which truck will win the race?!
This activity (along with all of our freebies!) can be downloaded from the Free Activity Library. If you’re already a member of our email community, you can click HERE to head to the Free Activity Library, enter your password (it’s on your most current email from me), and download your copy!
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CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES: MATH
Your work crew can’t build and fix things with an empty toolbox! Have your littles fill their toolbox by rolling a dice, identifying the tool that goes along with the number, and adding it to their box. This activity works on subitizing as well as one-to-one correspondence…plus it leads to dramatic play and creativity!
Roll and cover activities are great since they give your little one a chance to work on subitizing and number identification. Have them roll the dice, identify the number, and cover the number on their construction mat. If they’re ready for addition, have them roll two dice, add them together, and then cover the number.
I love introducing measurement by using nonstandard units of measurement, such as paper clips, pom poms, or play dough. Then we can compare those methods with using a ruler or tape measure. This activity is great because your littles can measure the buildings and then compare their results. These critical thinking skills are crucial to develop now in order for them to find success in kindergarten and beyond.
This might be my favorite activity in the unit because it turned out so cute! I love working on patterns with preschoolers. Creating patterns out of construction signs leads to dramatic play and creativity! We added Velcro to these signs so they would stay in place as we created the patterns.
Building on your little one’s knowledge of numbers is key to a strong math foundation. They need to move beyond simple number identification and rote counting to develop a deeper number sense. Comparing numbers and asking if they are the same/different encourages your little one to use higher-level thinking skills. Plus building the number out of a manipulative (such as rocks to go along with this construction theme!) helps them visually see the difference too.
We LOVE this hands-on math activity! Your little one will use blocks or rocks to create addition problems, which is SO much more meaningful than doing a simple addition worksheet. Your littles can add up the blocks/rocks and then use the excavator to dig them up and put them in one pile.
This activity has your littles sorting trucks according to size. They can also find things around the room to sort by size into small, medium, or large groups. You can also have them place the items in a row from smallest to biggest. Measuring the trucks with a ruler or tape measure to identify which is bigger/ smaller is also a great activity.
One of the main skills little ones need to work on and learn in preschool and kindergarten is “ways to make 10.” This is a fun way to introduce this skill and show your littles that no matter which number is on top, the answer in an addition problem will stay the same. This will also help them develop their math facts by learning the “friends of 10” (number pairs that go together to make 10, such as “4 & 6” or “3 & 7”).
This is a super fun activity to practice math skills AND build a game board at the same time! Have your littles roll a die and add that many magnatiles to their row. Then, they move their character that many spaces. See who can build the longest game board! This idea comes from my pack of At-Home Activities, which you can check out here.
PRESCHOOL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES: HANDS-ON & SENSORY IDEAS
SENSORY BIN #1: This was my son’s favorite activity when he was in preschool… a simple sensory bin filled with black beans and all of his construction trucks and toys! He happily spent hours here during this unit, using his imagination and creativity to play!
SENSORY BIN #2: Here’s another great sensory bin option that my son received for his birthday. This sensory bin is from Creativity for Kids and comes with everything you need in the bin! I also love that it comes with a lid so you can close it up when you’re done and store it for another day of fun!
Blocks are one of the most important toys our littles can play with (both in the classroom and at home)! For this activity, they can try to build a tower of blocks as high as different pieces of tape on the wall.
This is also a fun building activity for your little ones. Have them try to build different types of towers using cups. See how high they can make their tower. Then they can bulldoze the tower with one of their trucks, toy cars, or even their hand. That’s usually their favorite part!
This is a delicious construction activity to do with your little one! Constructing this adorable truck using sugar wafers, rolos, pretzel sticks, and googly eyes will inspire creativity while using fine motor skills. Of course, the best part is that they can eat their yummy creation when they finish! Read more about this snack (and books to pair it with) in this post.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION PRESCHOOL & PRE-K FUN
I hope these ideas helped you fill-in your Construction lesson plans for your preschool classroom or homeschool! All of the printables for this unit can be found in my Under Construction Preschool Activity Pack.
What types of Construction preschool activities do you plan for your littles? Do you have any fun activities that would be great to add to this list? Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] and let me know!
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Happy Learning!