Freight Train Color Matching and Letter Practice

Aiden loves trains.  I saw this book at Barnes and Noble and knew he would love it.

Freight Train by Donald Crews is a colorful book about a freight train.  Children will learn the names of each of the cars on the train.  They will see the train travelling through various places in the daytime and in the night.  My son loves the simplicity of this book.  It is one that he can “read” to himself because he remembers what each page says.  We read Freight Train many times in a given day.  The book is available in a large board book and a paper back.

 

All of the colorful train cars got me to thinking about color matching.  We had magnetic letters nearby and thus this color matching and letter practice activity was born.

 

I asked Aiden to match the colored letters to the train cars.  I showed him an example of what I meant.  I’m going to place the red T onto the red caboose.  At first, he put the letters on the cars at random.  I showed him another example of what I meant.  He understood and began matching the colors himself.

I asked questions like:

• What color do you have?
• What color is the letter I?
• What letter are you holding?
• Can you find a red letter?
• Can you find the letter C?
• Where is an uppercase/big M?
• Do you see a blue lowercase k?

Aiden continued this game for quite some time.

After he was finished matching colors, he decided to clean up the magnetic letters.  He picked them up and placed them in their container.  {Nothing like a little fine motor skill practice.}  Then, he dumped the letters out just so he could pick them up again.

He alternated picking up the letters and dumping them out again and again often choosing a new location for the falling letters.

Each time, he was very proud of himself for picking up his letters.

I love how one activity often leads to another all the while children are practicing skills they need and having fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

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