All Aboard!

The train station theme center was a big success!  While the preschoolers learned a lot about the different types of trains, they also learned many life skills that will help them to navigate public transportation in the future.  The preschoolers dramatized the act of buying (and selling) tickets to potential passengers, looking at a clock to see what time their train would be leaving, looking for a train's identification number and how to board (and exit) a train safely and carefully.  The preschoolers were also able to dramatize the jobs of employees who work at a train station and passengers who would be riding the train.  Their favorite roles were that of a conductor, an engineer and of course, the busy passenger.

Building trains and combining various kinds of train tracks increased the preschoolers' problem solving skills as well as their cooperation skills.  Of course, we also learned how to communicate with our friends while we were interacting in the center in a positive manner.  Lastly, the train station theme center encouraged our class to form some "people trains."  This helped us to move around the classroom using our gross motor skills and to use our listening skills to know when to stop/go to the music.