Planes, trains and automobiles

Invite the children to help set up a row of seats in the role-play area to represent a car, bus, coach, boat, plane or train. Create an aisle down the centre of the seats for ‘staff’ to check tickets, sell snacks or manoeuvre a trolley. Include an area for the driver or pilot to sit with a pretend steering wheel or control panel with buttons to press and dials to move. Display commercial or child-made paintings or posters around the walls to represent views from the windows and provide a variety of dressing-up clothes.

Create a simple petrol station with a pretend fuel pump and pay area for road travellers, a waiting room and café for rail customers or a simple check-in area and lounge for air passengers. Store magazines in racks for passengers to buy for their journey and invite the children to record announcements for them to use during role play, for example, ‘Keep your luggage with you at all times’ and ‘The next train will be five minutes late’.

Suggested resources

Chairs; real or child-made tickets; real or play money; play food and plastic bottles on a trolley or tray; hats, badges, dressing-up clothes and props for travellers, drivers, ticket collectors and cleaning staff; pretend steering wheel or control panel with buttons to press and dials to move; bags and cases; commercial or child-made travel posters or paintings to represent distant views or clouds; signs such as ‘Entrance’, ‘Exit’, ‘Waiting room’, ‘Café’, ‘Luggage’ and ‘Shop’; audio recorder (optional).

1 Creative cases

Make a suitcase or bag using a variety of materials