Bus Activities For Toddlers

Is your little boy into trucks, construction machines, jeeps, buses, and all kinds of vehicles that scream BOY? Mine is. Totally.

I read a pile of books about such marvels (monstrosities?) every single day. But I still have a difficult time identifying backhoes from pay loaders.

Among all of Little Sir’s treasures, his current absolute favorite is “Ang Barumbadong Bus” by Rene O. Villanueva and published by Adarna House. Our copy is an almost-tattered one that we got as a hand-me down from my now eight-year-old nephew.

It’s a simple story about a reckless bus named Kas who suffers from his own arrogance and selfishness. We read it several times a day, with my two-year-old boy always asking for “badongbadong bus!” It’s a fun,fun book to expose a youngster to Filipino-language books.

When he spoke in his sleep (“Where is the bus going?”) one night, I knew interest level was high and it was the perfect time for some gentle, bus-related activities. He loves these two puzzles that we have…

as well as this bus that I made on the wall with masking tape and the pieces of our Extended Family Fun Game. He loves moving the people around.

One time, he got his small drum set and pretended that it was a bus. The pedal is for gas – though there’s none for the brakes – and the cymbal is his steering wheel. His big sister got into the act too, and we had several days of “playing bus” with seats and tickets.

And since he really loves all kinds of vehicles, he makes anything into a steering wheel – plates, hula hoops, and this round pillow that we have. In the picture below, he’s inside a box that we made into a castle when we read “The Duchess Bakes A Cake,” and is now a tractor (or any other vehicle he declares it to be).

Of course, we sang “The Wheels On The Bus” and a Tagalog version that I made up. All these activities are unstructured and child-led. I just set up the play environment, got out of the way, and observed the magic of play unfold. A target activity for the upcoming holiday is to ride on an actual bus!

There are so many resources around the web for bus- or vehicle-related activities. You can do crafts, make bus crackers, or just plain draw a favorite vehicle.