Once Upon a Book ~ Maisy Drives the Bus

 

Maisy Drives the Bus

By Lucy Cousins

Summary:  The simple pictures make this book delightful to Tots!  Follow Maisy as she makes five stops along her bus route to pick up her friends.

Bible Verse

I must admit that finding an appropriate Bible verse to share with your child regarding this book was difficult for me at first.  But here is my advice to you . . . share with your child that any opportunity to rest or sit can be used to memorize God’s word.  Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says,

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 Because remember . . . God’s word will not return void, even when you ride a bus.  (Isaiah 55:11)

Activities

Bringing the Book to Life

Supplies:

• school bus (the one we used is a Plan City Toy school bus that I once reviewed.)
• Similar animals as those in the the picture book
• numbered cards from 1-5

Directions:

• As you read the book, allow your child to find the animal discussed in the book, an elephant, a chicken, etc.  Have them place the animal in your bus.  Be creative!  You could even paint a shoe box yellow if you don’t have a toy bus.
• Additionally, expose your child to the bus stop numbers.  When we came to a new number in the book, I handed Mr. Smiley a card with the identical number. 

Crafts

The Wheels On The Bus

Supplies:

• yellow, black, grey, and brown construction paper
  
• glue stick
  
• scissors

Directions:  (We sang the Wheels on the Bus song as we made our Shape Filled Bus.)

• 
  
  You can either make a pattern for your child to cut or prior to this craft cut one yellow square and one yellow rectangle. 
• 
  
  With your grey, cut out three squares for passenger windows and one triangle for the school bus driver. 
• 
  
  Using the black, cut out two circles for the wheels.
• 
  
  The brown is to be used for the four passenger heads.
• 
  
  Either place the glue in the appropriate places to create a bus, like the one above, or allow your child to smear the glue on the paper, and gently tap the construction paper in place. 
  
  

Do-A-Dot School Bus

Supplies:

• 
  
  School Bus printable found at EasyChildCrafts
• 
  
  Do-A-Dots
  
  

Directions: 

Talk about the color your child is painting with and just let them have fun.  We tried to work on making gentle up and down motions to create the dots on Mr. Smiley’s bus . . . however, he enjoyed pounding the yellow Do-A-Dot onto his bus printable.  Remember, Tot School is all about letting your Tot explore and learn about his world and to learn how things work.

Note:  If you have time, have fun making an egg carton school bus!  

Songs 

Doesn’t everyone know the Wheels on the Bus?  Teach your child this timeless classic song.  (This is a bedtime MUST-BE-SUNG song for Mr. Smiley!)  You can put your voice to music over at YouTube with this cute video.

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town. (Roll hands around each other)

The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish; Swish, swish, swish; Swish, swish, swish. The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish, all through the town. ("Swish" hands in front of you like windshield wipers)

The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep; Beep, beep, beep; Beep, beep, beep. The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep, all through the town. (Slap palm in front of you like honking a horn)

The doors on the bus go open and shut; Open and shut; Open and shut. The doors on the bus go open and shut; all through the town. (Push hands back and forth in front of you)

The Driver on the bus says "Move on back, move on back, move on back;" The Driver on the bus says "Move on back", all through the town. (Point thumb over your shoulder)

The babies on the bus says "Wah, wah, wah; Wah, wah, wah; Wah, wah, wah". The babies on the bus says "Wah, wah, wah", all through the town. (Rub fists in front of eyes)

The mommies on the bus says "Shush, shush, shush; Shush, shush, shush; Shush, shush, shush." The mommies on the bus says "Shush, shush, shush" all through the town. (Hold index finger in front of mouth as if saying shhh)

Snacks
 Ants on a Banana Bus  (very cute idea . . . but we just moved and my creative juices aren’t unpacked yet!)

Other Resources

For a virtually complete unit regarding school bus safety, etiquette, snacks, math, books and other resources visit The Virtual Vine.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)?  Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!