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    Home » Theme Based Learning Activities

    Published: Jan 22, 2018 · Modified: Dec 15, 2019 by Fynn · All activities should be supervised by an adult. This post may contain affiliate links.

    Airport & Airplanes Learning Shelf & Activities

    We had so much fun learning at home with our Airport & Airplanes Learning Shelf. Here's a summary post of all the activities we have done for this theme. To learn about how we do home learning at home with our shelf, I encourage you to read our How HTS Works page first. To know why we love a themed learning shelf, check out this page.

    Airport and Airplanes Theme Learning Shelf

    • Pinterest Idea Board: [theme] AIRPORT & AIRPLANES
    • Unique Hashtag on Instagram: #airporthts
    • Focus Books: The Airport Book by Lisa Brown, Airport by Byron Barton and Planes by Byron Barton
    • Focus Letters: Letters in the child's name and Uppercase/ Lowercase letters matching
    • Focus Chinese Words: 飞, 跑, 游

    This learning shelf and the activities are created for children of ages 1.5 years old to 6 years old. My son was 4 years old and my little girl was 1 year 8 months old when I made this learning shelf for them. All the activities have been categorized into the six main learning areas (language, numeracy, motor skills, discovery of the world, arts & creative expression, social & emotional development) that I am focusing on for my children.

    LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS (1.5 TO 3 YEARS OLD)

    • Sort and drop pom poms into an egg carton airplane according to the color (numeracy, motor skills)

    • Match the shapes on the wings of the airplane puzzles and complete the airplane puzzles. Printable available on our printable page. (numeracy, motor skills)

    Bonus: This printable can be found on my subscriber-only Printable page. As a bonus for joining my mailing list, you get access to ALL my printables. Get them here>>

    LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS (3 TO 6 YEARS OLD)

    • Peg on the wings of the airplane by matching the uppercase letter to lowercase letter

    • Match letters in his/her name on the windows of an airplane (literacy, motor skills)

    • Build Duplo control towers and measure their heights (numeracy, motor skills)

    • Play this game to learn the focus Chinese words: 飞 (fly), 跑 (run), 游 (swim). Follow the instructions on the printable to create this game. (literacy)

    Bonus: This printable can be found on my subscriber-only Printable page. As a bonus for joining my mailing list, you get access to ALL my printables. Get them here>>

    • Stick the dot stickers with the focus Chinese words: 飞 (fly), 跑 (run), 游 (swim) on the appropriate locations (land, sea or sky) on the picture. (literacy)

    • Learn names of countries and practice counting through this DIY airplane board game: Toss the dice, move the number of steps shown on the dice and collect the same number of flags. Read the name of the country on the flag to your kid. Game ends when all the flags are collected. (numeracy, discovery of the world)

    • Load the 'Lego passengers' onto the Duplo airplane according to the seat plan and learn about patterns and colors (numeracy, motor skills). If you don't have the Duplo airplane, simply draw a airplane on a piece of paper with 12 seats.

    • Count the clouds according to the number on the airplane (numeracy)

    • Load and count the number of baggage (Duplo or Lego tiles) on the baggage truck (numeracy).

    Bonus: This printable can be found on my subscriber-only Printable page. As a bonus for joining my mailing list, you get access to ALL my printables. Get them here>>

    CRAFT PROJECTS, EXPERIMENTS & SENSORY PLAY

    • Fold paper airplanes and have fun playing with them. Discuss which plane flew the furthest and why with your child. (discovery of the world)
    • Pretend play with our DIY airport small world in a cardboard luggage . Watch this video to see this airport small world in play. Do you want to make a cardboard luggage too? I made a video tutorial and you can watch it here. (discovery of the world)

    • Invitation to create a flag. Look at the flags of different countries and talk about the shapes and colors on the flags. Invite your child to make his/her own flag too. (arts & creative expression, discovery of the world)

    I also made a video of the making of this Airport and Airplanes HTS and the video can be found here. Any other questions or feedbacks for me? I love to hear from you. Need more ideas, be sure to check the rest of our learning shelves and activities!

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    About Fynn

    Fynn is a Math and Science teacher from Singapore, author of The Happy Learning Book for Siblings and founder of Happy Tot Shelf. She helps parents enjoy home learning with their children through her highly popular kids' activity membership, The Happy Learners' Club. Fynn has been featured in various newspapers, websites and on radio shows as an expert in early childhood learning and creative hands-on learning ideas.

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    Comments

    1. Lailah says

      April 12, 2020 at 3:49 pm

      This is one of the best unit themes for toddlers I have come across. The activities are so suited for my sons age (he is 2.5years). Most people suggest activities that are way too advanced. And I have never seen such creative suggestions for an airplane theme. My son absolutely loves planes and I couldn’t think of good enough ideas myself for a unit theme. I’m so happy with this. Thanks so much

      Reply
      • happytotshelf says

        June 06, 2020 at 10:03 am

        I'm so happy to hear that!

        Reply

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    Hi there, I'm Fynn, an educator, author and mom of 3. I believe nurturing a love of learning begins at home. I'm here to help parents nurture a love of learning and build a strong bond with their children through fun learning together.

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