This title is a great resource to have on the bookshelf of a preschool classroom or at home in early spring time as it helps inspire conversations with little ones around topics related to travelling for summer holidays.
For young children who perhaps have never travelled before, the illustrations in this beautiful book make for an easy way for a young child to learn all about the different steps and events and experiences involved in travelling and going to a different place for a holiday and what they can expect when they board a plane. For a little one who will be experiencing a plane journey for the first time, hearing about all these things ahead of time such as tickets, suitcases, packing, seat belts, announcements, pilots, airline crew etc., can help them to break down a new experience and process it in a way that they can gain some sense of control over by being able to name and recognize certain things which can in some ways help it to all to seem a bit less overwhelming.
Children are naturally drawn to simple clear illustrations and they love to try to copy a picture that has captured their interest. In the children’s book ‘Amazing Aeroplanes’ by Tony Mitton and illustrated by, Ant Parker whose nice big illustration of a flying plane was one my preschoolers just loved. We brought the book outside on a sunny day when the children were all very happily chatting about where they were going to go on their summer holidays.
On the ground I drew an outline of the plane with little boxes for windows. My preschoolers busily drew themselves and their families in the little boxes, just like they saw in this beautiful book. As we were all drawing with coloured chalk on the ground outside, the preschoolers were busily chatting about where they were going to go with their own families for their summer holidays or where they remembered going on their last holiday and what happened.
As an early years teacher, I know a children’s book is a real winner when it deals with a theme that is of genuine interest to young children at play. At this time of year when summer holidays are just around the corner, I like to add play resources to our classroom pretend play area that will support and inspire the children to engage with these play themes of travel, talk about places they have been, process real-life events by re-enacting in their pretend play. Items like a captains cap, tickets, play money, travel magazines, small sized chairs they can arrange as plane seats, snack baskets, etc.
These types of natural discussions that spontaneously take place in the context of social play can be very beneficial for children’s social development. For the child who has never travelled before, they gain a sense of reassurance and learning from their peers. For those who have travelled before, their communicative skills and self-confidence benefit from retelling their experiences. This children’s book has a vocabulary page with illustrations at the back of the book which makes it easy for young children to add cool new words to their own vocabulary.