Fantastic Fiction for Kids – Trucks!

Zoe — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:16:25 +0000

Welcome to our first Fantastic Fiction for Kids post! I’m very excited about this project – pooling the knowledge and love you, I, we have about kids’ books, creating a great resource, and hopefully having some fun along the way!

Today’s great list has been compiled by Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile – all about trucks! Lynn loves to make quilts, knows all about cooking with care because of allergies in her family and has one son who is turning two this month. She created Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile to record and review everything they read together. Now, let’s get stuck in and see what Lynn and her Infant Bibliophile have to say about TRUCKS!

My Truck is Stuck!, by Kevin Lewis. This cute picture book follows a dump truck full of bones that has gotten stuck, and the parade of characters (in all different types of vehicles – including, to our son’s delight, a bus) that try to rescue the truck. Our little guy has loved it since he first read it at 17 months, and I’ve added it to his birthday/Christmas list this year to buy our own copy.

Trucks Go, by Steve Light. This fun, oversized board book was an instant hit with our son, and I find it great fun to read aloud. It features eight two-page spreads of different vehicles, along with text describing silly sound effects made by each truck (such as “the auto carrier goes rooooor roooor bumpada bumpada honk honk.”). The drawings are bright and cheerful, with a childlike simplicity.

Construction Countdown, by K.C. Olson. A fantastic counting book for the little truck-lover, with simple rhyming text to describe each two-page spread of vehicles. The ending is particularly delightful: a huge sandbox full of trucks fills the page as children play with all of the trucks mentioned throughout the book.

More truck books loved by Lynn and her infant bibliophile include:

Trucks Roll! by George Ella Lyon. (“Stop for traffic lights. Stop for tolls. Stop for pork chops and cinnamon rolls.”)

Truck Stuck, by Sallie Wolf. (“Let us through – we’re stuck, too! Jobs to do. / All stuck. Move that truck!”)

Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks from A to Z (A Chunky Board Book), by Richard Scarry. (“watermelon truck…xylophone car…/yogurt car…and a zippermobile!”)

Now when you’re done with reading and what to get up and have a dance, there is no end of truck-related music! Here are some of Playing by the book‘s favourite truck songs:

Hard Workin’ Truck by James Coffey, from the album Lots and Lots of Trucks

Grandpa’s Truck by Eric Ode, from the album Grandpa’s Truck

Pickup Hiccup Truck by Jim Cosgrove, from the album Bop Bop Dinosaur

Truck Driving Man – lots of versions of this but you could do worse than the one by the Wood Brothers from their album Super 16 Hits: Keep On Truckin’

Truck Stop Rock by Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen

Photo: Joe Shlabotnik

And whilst I’m sure you’ll have your own ideas about what truck-craftiness you could get up to, here are some fun truck projects I think would be great to do:

Make a monster truck like this one from the Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Turn a milk carton (or similar) into a truck as per Origami Mummy – to whom many congratulations are due with the arrival of her lovely new daughter!

Check out Filth Wizardry’s take on Origami Mummy’s trucks: Toy cars and trucks from recycling

Use the toy trucks you have to make a truck track painting – you could take a look at Make and Take’s take on this fun activity

Photo: erix!

If you haven’t got a milk carton you could try making some Little Cereal Box Pickup Trucks from Today is Fun!

Or how about a picture of a truck which will get your kids practicing their fine motor skills, from No time for flashcards (with 3 more truck book recommendations!)

All this crafting may make you hungry, so you could have a Fire truck snack from Enchanted Learning

And finally, before you head on out for some fresh air and a stroll in the park, perhaps it would be fun to make this fire truck costume for your kid’s pushchair from freekidscraft.com

Photo: Matti Mattila

Thanks again to Lynn at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile for her lovely list of truck books, and for getting the ball rolling with Fantastic Fiction for Kids. Do pop over to her blog and say hello! And don’t forget to leave the title of your favourite truck books here in the comments

Playing by the book » Trucks

Fantastic Fiction for Kids – Trucks!