Little Pink Dump Truck

Every little girl needs one right?  This was a quick and easy craft using construction paper, markers, glue stick, a large envelope and a paper fastener.  I cut the flap off the envelope and gave it to Eva to color on with her markers.  While she was doing that I cut out a pink (as requested) dump truck body and two black tires.  I glued the pink part to the base paper (I wanted to make sure it was centered so the dump part would be on the paper) and then I had Eva glue on the tires.

I pushed the paper fastener through the bottom right corner of the envelope and the far edge of the dump truck.  The result- a dump truck that actually dumps!  Eva loaded it up with stickers for a special delivery.

Author Spotlight

Kate and Jim McMullan

This pair of author/illustrators has produced three of Eva's absolute favorite books.  Their witty text appeals to toddlers and grownups alike and their illustrations are bright, colorful and amusing.

Two of their books go along with our vehicles theme this week.

 

(Source- Barnes and Noble)

In I Stink we get a peak at the life of a garbage truck.  The casual conversational text introduces the reader to the parts of the truck and how he does his job.  He even shares a recipe for his "yummy" alphabet soup for a little letter reinforcement (and giggles).

I'm Dirty introduces us to a backhoe loader who loves getting dirty.  He works hard to clean up a vacant lot while showing off all his cool parts.  He even goes over a little counting for some added math fun.

The duo also wrote one of Eva's favorite dinosaur books which allows us to follow along with a ferocious T-Rex on the hunt for some grub and shows that even big, bad dinosaurs need their mommies:

(source- Barnes and Noble)

The books are a blast to read and believe me, you will end up reading them over and over.

Stop and Go

All drivers know that red means stop and green means go.  To help Eva learns the rules of the road we made a traffic signal.  In preparation I cut out the black frame from construction paper and covered one side with clear contact paper.  I also cut some red, yellow and green tissue paper into squares.    I set the frame down in front of her with the sticky side of the contact paper sticking up.  Eva's job was to put the squares in the circles.

The final product looks great with the sun shining through it hanging in our window.

To continue with our rules of road, we made a road.  I cut strips of black construction paper and Eva glued them onto a sheet of green paper.

(note the sippy cup- Eva went through a digger obsession a few months back)

Next Eva got to go to town with her favorite craft supply- stickers!  I found a book of vehicle stickers in the dollar bins at Target that were perfect for this project.

As a bonus, the stickers weren't super sticky so Eva has been able to "move" her cars around on the roads and change where they are going.  It ended up being both a craft and a toy!

Truckin' Outside

We have been blessed with some gorgeous weather lately so Eva and I have been spending a good part of our days outside.  To continue with our vehicle theme we drew a road on the driveway for the digger truck to ramble along.

I asked Eva what to draw in her town and she insisted on a Wegmans- even a two year old knows there's no existing without one!

The digger also helped with some snow removal.

Being the awesome mom that I am, I arranged for a special vehicle to make an appearance.  (Okay the Army just happens to be practicing maneuvers out of our airport.)

I promise there will be a craft post or two tomorrow but for now we are going to soak up as much sunshine as we can!

Books About Vehicles

Here are a few of the books that we have collected from our shelves and the library to read throughout this week:

(image source Amazon)

Beep Beep Honk Honk Choo Choo

This week is all about things that go.  From cars and trucks to buses and trains, diggers and dump trucks and maybe even some flying friends thrown in too.

We started off the week painting with vehicles.  Instead of using paint brushes, Eva ran a few of her buddies (that's what she calls all of her vehicles) through some paint and then drove them around on paper.

We made a bunch of pictures and then played car wash.  I filled a tub with soapy water and let Eva go to town scrubbing the paint off her buddies.  I was very glad I thought to put the tablecloth down for this as water ended up everywhere!  So much fun!

Squeaky clean!