Cars on the Move

Interest Area/Invitation Activity Plan # 4                        Your Name     Dianne Watts

Ages of Children Participating 3 &4

Activity Name

Cars on the Move

Goal

Children will explore speed, texture, grade, gravity, and building materials and how they affect speed and progress of rolling vehicles.

Objectives (Learner Outcomes)

Children will experiment with a variety of materials to make roads for their cars.  Children will observe the effectiveness of various grades and building materials (smooth, bumpy, flat, etc) on speed and progress.   

Domains (highlight all addressed)

Cognitive  :  they will have opportunities to explore, hypothesize, observe and analyze. Social/emotional  :  they will work with their friends and talk about their experiments.                               

Physical  : 

Creative:  they will use various materials to build their roads.

Content Areas (highlight all addressed)

dramatic play  : 

science  : this activity addresses speed, soft, bumpy, smooth, gravity, size.   

math  : They will be adding road or taking away pieces. 

language/literacy  :  they will learn words associated with building roads & using cars.   art  :  music  :  physical  :

social studies/anti-bias  : 

social-emotional  :  they will involve others in their activity. 

other

Materials Needed

Pictures of different bridges and roads

Many pre-made car tracks that snap together

Table to play on and build tracks over

Container at the end of track to catch cars

Assorted cars and trucks

Assorted smooth wooden blocks

Assorted plastic blocks

Strips of rough sand paper (glue or tape sand paper down on some of the tracks)

Small container of sand

Strips of cloth (glue or tape cloth down on some of the tracks)

Tape

Set-up Description

Hang up pictures of different hills, bridges and roads for the children to see.

Make sure the table is has plenty of space for children to move around and for extensions of track to hang from. 

Have a few roads pre-built that are short and smooth and a small hill.                             

Have some sand to drive through in a container on the table.

Have tape to help bridges that are built hanging off the table to stay in place.

Put all blocks and road pieces on the table including the ones coated with sand paper and cloth.

Opportunities for Teachable Moments

Watch for moments to help the children learn about sending the cars on straight roads verses hills and other surfaces. Say things like: “What would happen if we made this higher?  Look for ways to help the children learn about how the cars move on different surfaces.

Differentiation

Because this activity has several tactile elements to it, blind children will enjoy feeling the materials to appreciate its effect on speed (they can hear the speed of the cars and the sound of its obstacles).  Autistic children may be drawn into the activity because it is hands on. 

           

Evaluation

I will use observation to evaluate what the children have learned. I will be watching to see what they build, and listen to the language they are using to determine whether they notice difference in efficiency of building materials and placement of the materials. I will also ask questions to assess their knowledge.