Looking for transportation books for your preschool theme? Check out our favorites!
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BOOK LIST: THINGS THAT GO BOOKS
One great theme to use in your preschool classroom or at home with your little ones is THINGS THAT GO.
Preschoolers love this theme since they’re able to learn about the things they see every day… transportation vehicles! Plus I love that you can teach this theme any time of the year…it’s not tied to one specific season or holiday.
Keep reading to check out some of our favorite transportation books for preschool that you’ll definitely want to read to your little ones…plus I’ve included a freebie and a snack idea to make these books come alive!
Looking for Things That Go activities to go along with these books? Check these out!
TRANSPORTATION BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL
Yellow Copter: Yellow Copter is called to duty when a ferris wheel gets stuck! Read along to see if Yellow Copter can save the day. The illustrations are big and bright, which I love!
Busy Trucks on the Go: Follow a little boy and his dad as they see all the busy trucks doing what they do best! There are lots of onomatopoeias and rhymes in this book, making it fun to read aloud.
Sheep in a Jeep: The illustrations alone will have you and your kids giggling at how silly these sheep are! The sentences are simple which is perfect for a read aloud to even our youngest learners. It also includes rhymes.
Go, Go, Monster Trucks: If your kids love monster trucks as much as my son does, this book is for you! Each page has real life pictures of monster trucks and goes through all the different parts they have. They even mention Monster Jam!
Mickey Choo Choo Express: I love when books have flaps to make them more interactive, and this book not only includes flaps but also stickers and fun activities. Your little one will really enjoy doing the activities and decorating with stickers!
Little Blue Truck Series by Alice Schertle: We absolutely LOVE the Little Blue Truck series…we own them all! If you haven’t read it yet, this series is about a truck named Blue who is kind, helpful, and has lots of farm animal friends. I’d recommend starting with the original and then exploring the others in the series. They are linked below:
- Little Blue Truck Makes a Friend
- Time for School, Little Blue Truck
- Good Night, Little Blue Truck
- Little Blue Truck
- Little Blue Truck Leads the Way
- Little Blue Truck’s Valentine
- Little Blue Truck’s Springtime
- Little Blue Truck’s Halloween
- Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
- Little Blue Truck’s Beep-Along Book
TRANSPORTATION BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL
Elbow Grease Fast Friends: My son is a BIG fan of monster trucks so I was excited to read this to him as soon as I found it! Elbow Grease is a monster truck who meets a motorcycle named Chopper. They become fast friends despite dealing with some challenges along the way.
The Little Engine That Could: The Little Blue Engine comes to save the day! She thinks she can, and she does! This story has a great message of helping others, believing in yourself, and knowing you can do hard things!
The Wheels on the Bus: This fun spin on the classic song makes for such a cute book! Your little one will love seeing all the animals on the bus and the sounds they make.
Thomas the Tank Engine’s Big Lift-And-Look Book: This is such a fun and interactive book! Each page contains multiple flaps that your little one can lift and see what’s hiding inside while learning new words. If they are a fan of Thomas, they’ll be super excited about this book.
Duck on a Bike: Duck decides to take an adventure and hop on a bike! Along the way he runs into the other animals on the farm who think he’s silly for riding a bike. But by the end, Duck has convinced them to join along.
Three Little Engines: It’s the final day and the engines are ready for their big test! Not everything goes as planned, but there’s a great lesson in this story. Not everyone’s challenges are the same, but it’s important to slow down and help others.
The Amazing Machines Truckload Collection of Tony Mitton Books: My son got this set of 10 transportation books as a gift, and he was thrilled when he opened it! This rhyming series is a great read aloud choice since it’s filled with fun animals exploring lots of different modes of transportation.
TRANSPORTATION BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL
Row, Row, Row Your Boat: Another great use of onomatopoeias and a fun spin on a classic song! Your little one will travel down the river and see the most fantastic animals!
Dan, the Taxi Man: Follow Dan, the Taxi Man, as he picks up band members before their big performance! There’s rhyming and onomatopoeias in this story, making it a fun read aloud book.
Go, Go, Go!: This book is designed for our youngest learners. There are about two words per page and lots of repetition.
Trucks on Trucks: This book has great illustrations! It’s perfect for teaching your little one differences such as blue vs. red and small vs. big, all while seeing different trucks!
If You Were a Garbage Truck or Other Big-Wheeled Worker: There are great onomatopoeias in this book, and I love the message behind it! It takes something that may be negative about the jobs of these big-wheeled workers and reframes them in a more positive light.
Trucker and Train: Trucker and Train race each other throughout this book. Eventually, Trucker has to get ahead in order to save the other cars and save the day! There are also two instances of counting by 2s (2,4,6,8) to help your little with skip counting.
Machines with Power by Amy McDonald: Here’s a great nonfiction series to share with students when working on your Transportation theme. It’s the perfect way to introduce kids to different types of vehicles. The text is simple, the photographs are colorful, and the vehicles are exciting! The books are linked below:
- Machines With Power! Monster Trucks
- Machines With Power! Fire Trucks
- Machines With Power! Ships
- Machines With Power! Garbage Trucks
- Machines With Power! Helicopters
- Machines With Power! Race Cars
Wheels (Sally Sutton): As you may have guessed, this book is all about wheels on different transport vehicles! There are a lot of great descriptive words included to help expand your little one’s vocabulary.
Two Tough Trucks: The worried Rig and confident Mack are paired together for a race. Although the two don’t work well together in the beginning, they soon learn how to use their strengths to help each other.
Truck: This book is great for beginner readers! There isn’t a storyline but instead illustrations of a truck going about its day. Along the way, you’ll see other transport vehicles as well.
Transportation Series by Byron Barton: Award-winning picture book creator Byron Barton has written many books in his transportation series. I’ve shared three below, but you can check out the entire series at your local library or Amazon. These books are very simple and filled with colorful pictures that little ones love!
THINGS THAT GO BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL
On the Go Awesome: Follow a little boy as he not only sees the different modes of transportation but also gets to drive them! The text is short and simple making it good for any age. The illustrations are colorful and detailed!
Busy Street: Bonnie heads out for a drive with her mom and sees all kinds of things that go! She sees ice cream trucks and construction sites. She even sees fire trucks and ambulances in action.
True or False? Transportation: This is a fun choice! Each page includes a true or false question followed by the answer. Within these questions and answers are real life facts to help teach all about things that go!
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!: We love the Pigeon series by Mo Willems. In this edition, Pigeon tries everything in his power to take the bus for a joy ride. You’ll have to check it out and see if Pigeon is successful!
Let’s Go for a Drive!: Here’s another Mo Willems book that’s a fun choice! Elephant and Piggy decide they’d like to go for a drive, but they need a plan first! You and your little will both enjoy reading about all the silly things Elephant and Piggy need before their big trip.
The Pigeon Loves Things That Go: Silly Pigeon is back at it again! Your little will see all the fun “things that go” Pigeon sees on his adventures.
Mighty Truck: The Traffic Tie-Up: Stella the Chopper uses her big voice to help direct traffic. However, she learns that sometimes inside voices are necessary. This book can help your child know when best to use an inside vs. outside voice.
Ride, Fly Guy, Ride!: I found this book pretty funny! Fly Guy is a pet fly that gets pulled out of the car while the windows are down. He ends up on a lot of different things that go! It’s formatted as a chapter book with simplistic text.
Go, Go, Planes!: In this story, a brother and sister discover a variety of planes flying overhead. They range from jumbo jets to toy planes, which makes it very exciting for them! This book has colorful pictures and simple text.
Mighty Tug: Follow Little Tug on all of her important jobs throughout the day. She even saves the day for some! Though she may be little, she’s mighty!
Where Do Steam Trains Sleep at Night?: This is a perfect bedtime book but really can be read any time of day. Read about the nighttime routines of all different trains and how their little ones get ready for bed!
Transportation in My Neighborhood: This book uses real life pictures to depict typical transportation in a big city. It also includes a glossary, book recommendations, and a list of websites at the back of the book.
My First Trucks and Diggers: This book uses real life pictures to show all the different trucks and diggers you can think of! There are also questions on each page for you to ask your child and keep them engaged in the book.
Trucks: Another lift-the-flap book that will teach your little one all about the different trucks in our world! This book has lots of facts about each truck and colorful pictures to go along with them.
First 100 Trucks and Things That Go: This book includes real-life pictures of all kinds of transportation. There’s trucks, first responder vehicles, and boats…really anything that makes things go!
Let’s Go, Farm Trucks!: My favorite part of this book is the wheels found on each page that your little will surely love to spin! There are also great verbs and adjectives included that will help expand your child’s vocabulary.
THINGS THAT GO BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL
True or False? Transportation: Each page includes a true or false question followed by the answer. Within these questions and answers, there are real life facts to help teach things that go!
Let’s Go!: This National Geographic book starts with a small vocabulary box to help learn the different types of transportation. The end of the book includes a fun activity to further engage your little one in learning more!
Where’s the Fire Truck?: I love this book because not only does it have flaps, but they’re felt! It makes reading more interactive and exposes your little one to a different type of material. There’s even a cute surprise at the end with a mirror.
ABCs on Wings: This book is perfect not only for learning the alphabet, but also discussing the differences between uppercase and lowercase. Each page includes a letter and something you’d expect on a transport vehicle.
Freight Train/Tren De Carga: This is a bilingual book and perfect for introducing your child to Spanish. Each sentence is written in English and Spanish and includes lots of color words!
“I’m” Series by Kate and Jim McMillan: This “I’m” series is one of our family’s favorite series! These hilarious books are great for read alouds because of their big, colorful pictures and funny text. Follow each different type of vehicle during its day (or night!) job, and learn some cool facts while being entertained! Books are linked below:
Go, Dog, Go!: This book is great for teaching opposites and differences between objects. The text is short and simple, making it a good fit for those readers just starting to learn.
Vehicles ABC: This is another great book for working on the alphabet! It includes uppercase and lowercase letters. Each page has a colorful picture and a word related to transportation on it.
Things That Go: I love this book because every page has a textured part of the machine. This is great for engaging the touch sensation and exposing your little one to different textures. It also includes rhymes and the cutest pictures of animals driving the different machines!
Vroom Vroom Garbage Truck: This is the most unique book on the list because the only words are noises! The story is told through the colorful pictures and the sounds of the garbage truck, like “click clack bump” and “whoop whoosh whoop.” Your little one is sure to love this unique choice!
Mighty Moms: I love books empowering women! This book focuses on trucks as moms and all they do for us and the community. I also love the bright and colorful pictures!
Zoom, Zoom, Baby!: This is such a cute book! Read along to find where the baby is hiding. Each page includes little flaps to look for the baby. This is a great interactive book for our youngest learners.
THINGS THAT GO SNACK
Want to pair one of your Transportation preschool books with a fun snack? Try these delicious Graham Cracker Stoplights! Your preschooler is sure to enjoy making (and eating!) this sweet treat. All you need are graham crackers, peanut butter or frosting or cream cheese, and red, yellow, & green M&Ms. These are so easy to make!
THINGS THAT GO FREEBIE
If you’re looking for a great freebie for your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten kiddos, try these number cards! When you choose a Transportation theme, you have countless opportunities to work on counting! From counting wheels to counting passengers, you’ll definitely find these cards helpful.
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!
If you’d like to join our email community & receive the password as my way of saying THANK YOU for joining, you can click HERE to subscribe. Once you enter your information, the password will be emailed to you within minutes.
THINGS THAT GO MATH & LITERACY PRINTABLES
I hope this book list helped you fill-in your Things That Go lesson plans for your preschool classroom or homeschool. If you want an entire pack of printable math & literacy centers for this theme, check out my Things That Go Preschool Activity Pack.
SHARE YOUR FAVORITES
Do you have any favorite Transportation books for preschool? I’d love to hear them and add them to our list! Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog].
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Looking for other book lists for preschool and kindergarten? Click HERE to check them out!
Happy Learning!
