Series of Themed Play - Construction Equipment Toys

This is a continuum to the Themed Play Series. Kids need daily exposure to verbal, written, heard, and spoken vocabulary for the growth of their speech and language development. In this blog post, we will look at construction toys and how you may use them in your day-to-day play with useful vocabulary for your baby, toddler or preschooler. Construction toys can be anything from toy cars, diggers, haulers, dump trucks, tractors, bulldozers, cranes, road graders, construction clothing to many more. Construction toys are fun and can be played by anyone (boy or girl) of any age. All you need is a bit of imagination and creative energy.

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Let's look at how we played with our construction equipment toys:

1. First of all, we discussed the topics/questions below:
• What is construction? The words construction means to build something or to put something together (construct it).
• Where do we see it? We normally see construction going on in new parts of the city or in areas where something was destroyed or needs to be rebuilt.
• What is the purpose of construction equipment? It is important to have construction going on in the city or country, for its growth and progress. For example, if a city has a lot of people that migrated from another city or country, then they will need more houses for everyone to live in. Or if a building collapsed due to an earthquake, we need to clean the old mess and build a new one in its place. 
• Who is allowed to use real-life construction equipment? Only an adult (18 or older) can operate a construction equipment. Most construction companies require their workers to write tests or pass certifications to operate a construction equipment.
• What are some construction jobs? Heavy Equipment Operator, Construction equipment Mechanic, Laborers, Traffic Controller, etc.
2. Next, examine each equipment and talk about what it does? You can also demonstrate actions that go along with each construction equipment. Say:
• A Digger/Excavator will dig a large hole in the ground; it is a powerful electronic shovel.
• A Tractor will carry heavy loads in the front or the back depending on the type of tractor; front-end or back-end. It is sometimes used to carry a certain piece of equipment to the construction site.
• A Bulldozer will push large amounts of dirt or rocks.
• A Dump truck is used to carry heavy loads of sand, dirt, or rocks to a construction site that is in need of it.
• A Crane is a very large construction equipment used to pick up or lift heavy things from one place to another.
3. Finally it is time to play by making "beep beep" sounds for warning that the construction equipment is on the move. Here are some play suggestions:
• Move the toys back and forth and say: push or pull.
• When an equipment moves, say: Vroom, Vroom!
• Whenever you move a toy, say: beep...beep...beep. This gives others working on the construction site a warning; that an equipment is on the move. Beep means CAUTION.
• Use hand signals to show going forward or backwards. Similar to a traffic police officer.
• Make STOP, SLOW DOWN, PROCEED WITH CAUTION, UNDER CONSTRUCTION signs on a yellow/orange/red diamond. Talk about how to use them on a construction site. Then play with the construction toys and take turns using the made-up signs.
• Set up obstacles around the house and have your child maneuver the obstacles by taking their construction equipment for a ride. Avoid hitting the obstacles.
• Set up cushions around the house in a line (in likeness of speed bumps) and have your child go over them slowly. Say: whenever there is a speed bump, we slow down.
• Set up blocks or toys around, then have your child push the toys using a Bulldozer.
• With a Dump Truck, pretend to load it up with little toys, move/drive it to another place and then dump it. Say: load it, drive it, and dump it.
• Look at construction signs on the internet and talk about what each one means. For example, whenever you drive by a construction zone, talk about the low speed sign. Most construction sites tell drivers to slow down. This is for the safety of the construction workers on site who may work close to the road.
• Discuss why majority of the construction equipment or signs on the construction site are either orange, yellow or red. All these colors means Please Proceed with Caution.

© Everything Family Guide

These activities can be done with intervals to avoid information overload! :) Overall, it was a fun learning experience and we love to play with construction toys all the time. How about you?

Annie