Car play mat printable for transport theme learning activities

Try these fun transport themed learning activities, along with free car play mat printables!

Car play mat printable for transport theme learning activities

Print this collection of colour, number, letter, and word parking lot printables and practice math and literacy skills as you play!

How to create a literacy-rich environment

A literacy-rich environment is one that is filled with opportunities to see, hear, and use letters and words in action. It lets children experience language in context, sparks curiosity, and encourages them to use language in play, learning, and every day life.

To create a literacy-rich environment for our children we can curate an interesting collection of print and sound in our homes and educational settings. Posters, postcards, letters, maps, books, comics, signs, menus, leaflets, and labels all add opportunities to read, write, and talk.

You can use these carpark play mats to add literacy to your transport-theme learning and car-mad kids’ play. 

How to use these parking lot printables

Print the carpark play mats (see how below).

You might like to laminate the cards for extra durability.

Set out the play mats alongside a collection of toy cars and invite your children to play.

You can use a permanent maker to write numbers and letters on the top of your cars, to promote more learning opportunities. Alternatively, stick a piece of sticking plaster or tape on the top of your cars to write on – then you can easily change the markings from number to letters to words, to suit your children’s stage of learning.

Five car play activities for matching, math, and literacy

The printable car play mats come in five versions:

:: a number version

:: a letter version

:: a first sight words version

:: a coloured version

:: and a blank version which you can fill to suit your needs.

 

How to play car-theme games for learning

There is so much value in free-play, where children are given space to direct their own play time. By mixing in letters and words with the loose parts and toys you have available for your children, you’re encouraging them to notice print, to be curious about the symbols, and to begin to read and use them in their vocabulary and conversations. 

Your children might also use these parking lot play mats to:

:: match their cars to the coloured parking spaces

:: park their cars in numerical order

:: match the letters/ words written on the top of each car to the corresponding parking space

:: match an upper case letter on their car with the lower case parking space

:: match a number of dots or tally on their car with the number parking space

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