What Vehicle Is That? is a simple game that can be played on any road journey, and it’s a great way to increase your child’s observation skills, as well as their understanding of different types of vehicles, counting and numbers. The basic game involves calling out whenever you see a vehicle of a specific type and keeping a running total of how many you’ve seen, but more advanced games can involve keeping track of multiple types of vehicles on a score sheet similar to the one that accompanies this post.
A simple score sheet for tracking the number of vehicles seen of different types. Not all types will be seen on every journey, and you’ll be amazed at the excitement when a rarely seen type of vehicle is finally spotted. In the UK, this is usually a helicopter. To use this sheet, mark down a small line beside each vehicle type when it is seen and then at the end of the journey total up the marks and put the number in the Total box. This encourages your child to improve their counting skills. You can download a copy of this score sheet for free from here.
How Long Does It Take To Play? There is no set time-limit to this game, and it can last as long as any journey. However, younger children are likely to lose interest if it is played for more than five minutes at a time. In addition, you can also play a speed variation of the basic game (see below).
Ages: Four and older. This game can be played as soon as your child starts to develop a concept of different vehicle types. For older children, you can make the game more complicated to keep their interest (see variations below).
Core Life Skills It Will Help Develop: Academic Skills – Numeracy and counting; Critical Thinking Skills – Observation. This game can also be used to stimulate discussions on what types of vehicles different people drive and what jobs are associated with different vehicles
What Do You Need To Play It? This game requires nothing, but playing it can be made easier if you have a dry-erase board or a notebook to keep track of the number of vehicles seen. This also makes it easier to total up the number of cars seen once the game has finished. However, you can also make the game more interesting by using a pre-prepared sheet to record the number of vehicles seen of several different types, such as the one shown in this post.
Preparation: No preparation is required, but it may be useful to keep a set of printed score sheets to hand in your car, if you are counting cars of multiple colours at once. Alternatively, you can laminate a copy of this scoring sheet so that it can be re-used time and again. Finally, if you are based in the UK, you can purchase a re-useable laminated version of this score sheet from the link in the useful products section at the end of this article.
How Do You Play It? Before starting this game, ensure that your child can see well enough out of the window to be able to see any cars that they pass. Ideally, they should be seated in the front passenger seat alongside you, but you should only do this if it is safe and legal to do so (i.e. that they can still sit in an appropriate car seat, that they can be safely strapped in, that any front passenger airbags have been de-activated, and that the seat is pushed as far back as possible). Next, one of you picks a type of vehicle (other than a car as there will be too many of these) to count. Ideally, this should be your child, but with children at the youngest age range for this game, it will be better if you pick one that you see often enough that you will see some, but not so frequently as to make it difficult to keep a count of what you’ve seen. Now you are ready to start, encourage your child to point and call out whenever they see a vehicle of the selected type. You can either keep a running total, or they can mark down each time they see a vehicle of the selected type so you can total it up later. Feel free to occasionally call out when you see cars yourself, but make sure you don’t take over the game (as it will suck all the fun out of it if your child is relegated to just keeping the tally of what you have seen!) You should also make sure you give them a chance to spot the car you have seen first before calling it out.
In the more advanced version of this game, you can use a score sheet (such as the one you can download from here) to keep track of multiple vehicle types. This makes it more interesting for the child, and if you select the vehicle types correctly, you will find that they will soon become obsessed with seeing the rarer vehicles (such as helicopters or fire engines). At the end of the game, you can total up the number seen of each type and compare the results. This can be used to lead on to discussions about frequencies and the relative occurrence of type of vehicles and why different types of vehicle are more or less common. Similarly, on the scoring sheet mentioned above, there is a number provided which is a points score for each vehicle type which can be used to weight the totals based on vehicle rarity, To do this, simply multiply the count for each colour by this point score before adding up the total score. This incorporates elements of multiplication into the game.
Download: Score sheet for recording the occurrence of vehicles of multiple types: You can either print out multiple copies of this sheet, or you can print it out once and get it laminated. This will effectively turn it into a dry-erase board, and it can be used multiple times if filled in with the correct type of pen (see links to useful products below). Alternatively, if you are based in the UK, you can purchase a re-usable laminated version of this score sheet from the link in the useful products section at the end of this article.
Variations: There are many possible variations of this game. For example, if you have two children, each can count up different types of vehicle to see who can see the most of their chosen type. However, you need to ensure that they take it in turns as to who selects the first vehicle type as one child (usually the older one) will quickly figure out that one type of vehicle is more common and that they can always win by selecting it. Another variation is to limit the time which the child has to count vehicles of a specific type. You might, for example, give them two minutes to see how many they can count. This encourages them to actively observe their environment and assess the objects around them, and adds a more manic, and so fun, element as they start looking around faster and faster as they get closer and closer to the end of the playing time. Setting a time limit also makes it easier to play this game with multiple children on a single trip as each can take a turn to count vehicles of the same type and see who can spot the most in the specified time limit.
You can also further develop the game by adding bonus scores for different colours of each vehicle type. For example, a red lorry or truck might score double, while an orange van might score triple and a pink motorbike five times the basic score. You can also run this game over several journeys with the aim of getting to a specific total, or to see how many you can spot in a given time period (such as a week’s worth of school runs). If you wish to make the game more advanced, you can use it as the basis for introducing the concept of frequencies by creating a bar chart of the relative occurrence of different vehicle types, and by calculating the proportion or percentage of all vehicles recorded that belong to each type. However, make sure that you only do this if your child is interested as it will suck the fun out of the basic game if they are not!
Links To Useful Products For This Game
Magnetic dry erase board: A magnetic dry erase board is one of my favourite tools for playing games with children to help them develop their core life skills, and it is perfect for recording the number of cars seen of one or multiple colours. Of those available, the one found here is my preferred option as they come in a range of colours and are a great size. Dry erase pens: Dry erase pens can be used to keep score either on a dry erase board, or on a laminated version of the score sheet which accompanies this post. If you don’t have any to hand, you can find a range of suitable set of pens here. Digital timer with magnet: If you are only aiming to play What Vehicle Is That? for part of a journey, or if you want to play the speed version, you will find a digital timer very useful. If you don’t have a suitable timer already, you can find a range of digital timers here. Re-usable laminated scoring sheet: While you can download the scoring sheet which accompanies this post for free, we also offer the option for you to purchase a re-usable laminated version for just £2.99, including free postage to any UK address (sorry, this option is not currently available for non-UK parents). For this price, you get a double-sided laminated score sheet, featuring the car colour sheet shown above on one side and a second similar game based on spotting different types of vehicles on the other, as well as a free dry erase pen which can be used to play this game. This sheet can be wiped clean using any dry tissue or cloth.For Parents Based In The UK
Magnetic dry erase board: A magnetic dry erase board is one of my favourite tools for playing games with children to help them develop their core life skills, and it is perfect for recording the number of cars seen of one or multiple colours. Of those available, the one found here is my preferred option as they come in a range of colours and are a great size. Dry erase pens: Dry erase pens can be used to keep score either on a dry erase board, or on a laminated version of the score sheet which accompanies this post. If you don’t have any to hand, you can find a range of suitable set of pens here. Digital timer with magnet: If you are only aiming to play What Vehicle Is That? for part of a journey, or if you want to play the speed version, you will find a digital timer very useful. If you don’t have a suitable timer already, you can find a range of digital timers here.For Parents Based In The
USA
About The Author: This post was written by Colin Drysdale, the creator of How To Raise A Happy Genius.
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