Storytime Anytime-Trucks

Recently our library hosted a Touch-A-Truck event during which kids of all ages had the opportunity to get up close and explore a variety of service vehicles. There were tow trucks, wreckers, a semi, fire truck, police car, electric company cranes, a city snow plow, and even a John Deere tractor. It was a fun, although, very noisy evening since every kid had to honk the horn of each vehicle that they sat in.

In the weeks before Touch-A-Truck story time revolved around trucks (of course). There are tons and tons and tons of truck books out there here are several that I love to share with kids and some easy activities to go with them.

Personally, I like this version much better than the original rhymes

First off, let's get rid of all of the gender biases. Trucks are fun for boys and girls.

1. If a breakdown has ever left you stranded on the side of the road
nothing is a more welcome sight than a tow truck.

Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton is the perfect little book to show preschoolers just how important tow trucks are. When a school bus breaks down on a wet, snowy day who comes to the rescue? Red tow truck, of course! The text and illustrations of Red Truck are simple, but sweet and bright. It is a perfect homage to an unsung hero.

With my my toddlers I printed off a simple outline of a tow truck that I found online and let them fill it in with squares of red tissue paper. I have found that toddlers and preschoolers love gluing anything to paper. Also, picking up small pieces as well as using Q-tips to spread the glue is great for building fine motor skills.

2. I grew up with a collection of Little Golden Books so when I think of truck books the first one that comes to mind is The Happy Man and His Dump Truck. This classic children's book was actually written by Miryam Yardumian when she was only five years old. Yes, the story of a man who takes a number of animals on a joy ride in his dump truck is a little corny but, hey, the author was only five. The illustrations in are by famed Hungarian artist, Tibor Gergely, who also illustrated Tootle, Scuffy the Tugboat, and The Little Red Caboose.















 3.   Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough and Sheep in
a Jeep by Nancy Shaw also feature farm animals in trucks, but in these two books the animals happen to be doing the driving too. Wow, not only do both of these titles rhyme, the covers look remarkably similar. Oh well, Duck in the Truck and Sheep in a Jeep are cute and guaranteed to make any preschooler giggle.

 

4.  Kate and Jim McMullan are an author/illustrator team (as well as being husband and wife) that have created a whole series of picture books about various vehicles. I Stink, I'm Brave, I'm Fast, I'm Mighty, and I'm Dirty are playful, cute, but also very informative. I love the use of onomatopoeia (or maybe it is just that I really like saying onomatopoeia). The garbage truck ROARS and BURPS, the train goes CHOOKA CHOOKA CHOOKA CHOOKA, the firetruck wails EEEEEEOOOOOOOO, etc. The McMullans include details about the different parts of the vehicles and their function all while describing a typical day on the job.

5. What is better than trucks and dinosaurs? Dinotrux!!!  I have yet to meet a child, boy or girl, who does not love the Dinotrux books by Chris Gall. My family owns both and my son can recite them verbatim. Gall is such a brilliant illustrator and the concept of Dinotrux could not be more appealing to children. In August 2015 Dreamworks is releasing a Dinotrux children's show that will be available as a Netflix original series.

Anytime you read books about trucks, cars, or vehicles you have to sing The Wheels on the Bus. Which you can change to the Wheels on the Tractor or Semi or Firetruck (it is a pretty easy song to adapt). Yes, the song is annoying, but it is easy to remember and kids will love all of the motions. Let them sit in a cardboard box with some paper plates glues to the sides for wheels and it is even better.

I made 20 of these one summer for a toddler drive that I spent far too much time on. Kids are just as happy using their imaginations.

Another cute song you can sing is Hurry, Hurry Drive the Firetruck.

There are so many other books, songs, activities you can do related to trucks. Hopefully, the few books and ideas that I have provided here will give you a good starting point.