This was a special program that I did during the Summer of 2013 for “Dig Into Reading!” Families with kids ages 3-7 were invited to spend an afternoon celebrating all things construction!
The Plan
Books
Construction Countdown by K.C. Olson
The Construction Crew by Lynn Meltzer
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
Extension Activities
Flannelboard: “Red Crane, Red Crane, What Do You See?”
Action Rhyme: “Cranes”
Cranes reach up,
Cranes reach down,
Cranes reach out,
And all around.
Credit: Pre-K Fun
Fingerplay: “Five Little Nails”
Five little nails, standing straight and steady
Here I come with my hammer ready!
Bam, bam, bam! That nail goes down.
Now there’s just four nails to pound.
(count down)
Credit: Mel’s Desk
Games
“Foreman Says”
You really can never go wrong with a special version of Simon Says. I gave the kids construction hats that I bought for the program to wear while we played. I put mine down at one point and wound up sitting on it, smashing it. I’ve never seen preschoolers erupt in such laughter.
“Dump Truck Relay”
The website linked above can give you full instructions, but basically I had two dump truck with packing peanuts that I had painted to look like rocks and two buckets. I divided the kids up into two teams and they raced to get their rocks from the trucks to the buckets. They had great fun with this one, even if I didn’t really “pronounce” a winner.
“Treasure Excavation”
Very simple way to hand out prizes. I had a bin full of shredded paper and let the kids dig using sandbox shovels for their ring pops. I figured that was as close to diamonds as I was gonna be able to afford!
Craft
I got this craft from Kids Craft Weekly. I let the kids do their own cutting and I had plenty of parents around to help the youngest ones out. I did keep the hole punchers at a single table with the brads so that teen volunteers could help with the construction aspect.
How It Went
Did I mention the part where I sat on my hat? Basically, not even ring pops could compare with how awesome that moment was! Their favorite book was probably “Tip Tip Dig Dig” and they really liked that I used the same illustrations to make the flannelboard. The craft was definitely doable for the kids, but I had a few that struggled to use the scissors, which makes me all the more determined to give them more opportunities when possible!
storytime katie 
It is so nice to have a new post from you daily! Hope you are enjoying the new job. Thanks for sharing all you do.
Thank you for reading! The new job is just absolutely wonderful, but I am enjoying cleaning out the first library’s files and getting these posts up!
My little friends loved Tip Tip Dig Dig too. I should try sitting on a hat to liven things up 🙂
Seriously, it was comedy gold. And it was even better once I put the squished hat on, haha!
Hi,
The link to the craft isn’t working as the site is no longer. Is there any chance you have it saved and could share it? I desperately need it for a kids party!
Thanks
I don’t have it saved, but everyone can use the Internet Archive to find things when sites go down. Here’s the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20111025112953/http://www.kidscraftweekly.com/printables/moving_parts_digger.pdf