Welcome to the Storytime at Home series! Every other week, we share a list of book options tied to a kid-approved theme, a craft you can set up to go along with the theme, songs/rhymes you can do during storytime, and additional enrichment activities. All books are available at Richmond Public Library, and crafts will involve items you likely have at home already! Our hope is that we can make it easy for you to share stories with your little ones and create a little bit of library magic at home.
P.S. Love library storytimes? Take a look at all in-library storytime options here. There is a storytime for your child every morning at our various branches!
Okay, now to the fun stuff…
Today’s storytime theme is CARS AND TRUCKS!
It’s no secret that little kids love cars and trucks. They make fun noises. They can be pushed and pulled and flown and zoomed and vroomed. You can pretend to be a car. Cars and trucks are not only a fun toy, but also a great tool for learning. You can practice following directions and learn opposites by driving cars fast and slow, up and down, over and under, etc. They help us learn colors, sizes, and shapes as well as practice our counting skills. They also help kids understand and add context to their worlds when they see a car or truck from their pages out in the “real world.” The library has some wonderful books about cars and trucks and we’ve included some of our favorites below. When you visit, you can also search in our catalog or ask a librarian to help you find the perfect book for you and your child.
Books
Reading to your kiddos turns them into confident thinkers. Making books a regular part of your daily routine is a great way to build children’s love of reading and learning. Storytimes also help build excitement around reading to support their literacy development.
Here are a few book options you can choose from for your vehicle-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Pete the Cat’s Cool New Ride by Kimberly and James Dean
- Calling All Cars by Sue Fliess
- Old Macdonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz
- Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming! by Patricia Hubbell
- All Kinds of Cars by Carl Johanson
- Trucky Roads by Lulu Miller
- The Cars and Trucks Book by Todd Parr
- My Big Truck Book by Roger Priddy
- Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
Toddler/Baby
- Beep! Beep! Vehicles on the Go by Byron Barton
- Little Truck by Taro Gomi
- Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! by Bill Martin
- Cars and Trucks by Jill McDonald
- Colorful Cars and Trucks by Richard Scarry
- Cars and Trucks from 1 to 10 by Richard Scarry
There are many ways to make reading fun and engaging for your little one!
Click here to see some of our favorite tips for bringing stories to life at home.
- Point at the pictures and ask your child what they see. Help build their vocabulary by pointing to pictures and saying the word aloud.
- Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? How do you think this character is feeling?
- Read with expression and enthusiasm, and use different voices for different characters.
- Act out what’s happening in the story.
- As your child gets older, count objects in a book, discuss the different colors they see, point out shapes in the story, etc.
- Snuggle up and be patient. Reading is great bonding time for you and your child. Take your time walking them through the story. If your child wants to turn the page or be finished with reading, that’s OK too. You don’t have to read every word or even every page for reading with your little one to be beneficial for their development.
Songs and Rhymes
We love adding songs and rhymes to our storytimes. This is a great way to practice language with your child and support their physical (motor) development through movement.
Here are two songs and rhymes you can use for this themed storytime.
Movement Song: I’ll Take You Driving In My Car
Source: Jbrary
Movement Song: Drive, Drive, Drive Your Car
Source: Storytime Ukelele
Tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Drive, drive, drive your car (move hands like you’re driving a steering wheel)
All around the town!
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Up the hills and down (bring arms up and down)
Arts and Crafts
Adding a craft along with a book is a great way to continue allowing your child to learn, explore, and grow. Crafts are a nice supplement as they encourage motor development, creativity, self-confidence, and more.
In fact, art and craft activities:
- Build fine motor skills. Actions such as painting, coloring, gluing, and cutting develop small muscles in small hands and improve coordination skills as children learn to use both hands at the same time.
- Support early literacy. When children make art, they learn vocabulary and how to follow directions when getting verbal instructions from parents and caregivers. They also boost their communication skills via talking about their work!
- Teach early math concepts. Math skills are used frequently in arts and crafts. Kids learn about and recognize different shapes, count and sort art supplies, and even measure out materials.
- Encourage creativity. Art helps develop creativity, self-expression, problem-solving, and curiosity.
- Boost self-esteem. Doing arts and crafts can give children a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which builds confidence.
- Offer bonding time. Kids love spending quality time with parents and caregivers, and arts and crafts are a great opportunity for this.
Here is a craft activity you can do along with the cars and truck theme.
Paper Plate Car Craft
Materials Needed
- Paper plates
- Tissue paper
- White cardstock or construction paper
- Black cardstock or construction paper
- Glue
- Scissors
Source: Glued To My Crafts
Directions
- Cut paper plate in half along the center.
- Cut tissue paper into small squares and then help your little one glue the pieces all over the paper plate half.
- As that dries, cut out windows, wheels, bumpers, lights, etc. from the white and black paper.
- Help your child glue the embellishments onto their car.
Additional Enrichment Ideas
The fun doesn’t have to end at books, songs, and a craft. There are many ways to enrich a storytime with additional activities and lessons. Here are a few ideas for you and your child:
- Go outside and play the color game! Have your child pick a color to look for and then count how many cars and trucks in that color you see.
- Make your own cars out of cardboard tubes and pouch caps.
- Have a big cardboard box lying around? Make a car or truck for your little one to drive!
- Visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and see how many paintings of cars and trucks you can find.
- Grab a roll of painter’s tape or duct tape and add strips along the floor. Use a marker to add road markings and drive cars along the new roads you created.
- Use a pillow, cushion, cardboard box, etc. to create a ramp to run toy cars and trucks down.
- Set up a car wash sensory activity where little ones get to dirty us their toy vehicles (hello, homemade mud!) and then get sudsy while washing them off with soap and water.
We share these Storytime at Home posts each month, so be sure to check back soon for more. You can also search “#storytimeathome” to see all past posts.
Have a suggestion for the next theme we cover? Email Sarah at sarah.fenninger@rva.gov and let us know!
