Construction Machines Day!
If you read our Micro-Ventures from last month, you saw that I have started doing little mini lesson plans with Grey about topics that interest him. The teacher in me isn’t totally dead now that I’m a stay-at-home-mom. Grey has been OBSESSED with construction machines, screeching and pointing when we drive by the projects going on around our house. Our friends Amy and Hogan joined us to learn and play.
So today we started off by visiting (trespassing into) a construction site so get an up close look at the big boys. We learned how to sign “machine” by interlacing knuckles and moving hands in a circular motion, like your knuckles are the cogs linking and your hands are turning like a gear. (I learn all my signs from the video dictionary at Tiny Signs and highly recommend you go there to see a demonstration.)
We came home and watched some silly Youtube videos that helped us move our bodies like a bulldozer and a dump truck and then read some construction machine books.
Busy Builders Busy Week– I loved the illustrations in this one.
Diggers at Work– This is a seek-and-find book. Entertaining for the adults too!
Paving Partners– Grey liked lifting the flaps as we read.
Big Stuff– This one was probably my favorite because it had enough information for me to learn something too.
Shape Up Construction Trucks– I used this book to continue to try to (unsuccessfully) teach Grey his colors.
Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?– Never mind, this one is actually my favorite. I’m a sucker for a good rhyming book.
The boys were super into seeing the new machines, screaming every time we turned the page. I tried to film their reactions, and they, of course, didn’t deliver for the camera.
We colored a bulldozer with yellow crayons and used glue to add some dirt from my house plant to its tracks and bucket.
But I was eager to get to the part I knew would be the hit of the day! I had “constructed” a mini indoor sandbox (since it was February) complete with tiny machines for the boys to play with. The grown ups couldn’t resist molding the Kinetic Sand and manipulating all the moving parts of each little CAT Machine too.
The boys were not the best at keeping their Hard Hats on, but it made for just a couple cute photos.
The obsession continues, now more than ever. I almost need ear plugs to get through a construction site on the road. But that smile is worth it!
Links provided will take you to Amazon to purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Anything linked here is something that I actually own and used on this adventure, unless otherwise noted.