11 Best Transportation Activities for Preschoolers (with Kids Musical Yoga) — Yo Re Mi (2024)

Exploring fun transportation activities with preschoolers is one of our favorite things to do! No matter the adventure (and Yo Re Mi goes on A LOT of them), we all travel to get there.

Naturally, we love using music and yoga to help us along the way.

Traveling and transportation yoga poses are relatable because children travel every day, but they also have tons of physical benefits children won’t even realize they are getting. Transportation preschool songs help us kickstart an observation-based conversation about means of transport — and their unique attributes.

Kids Yoga Transportation Activities for Preschoolers
- Plus Sing Along Transportation Songs -

Rev up your imaginations and try this list of amazing transportation activities for preschoolers: all using fun transportation songs and kids yoga poses. These activities support play-based learning and can seamlessly integrate with your transportation theme preschool curriculum.

1. Boat Pose

This preschooler-friendly transportation activity is a traditional yoga pose (also known as navasana), and a great way to bring music and fun into a children’s yoga class or academic classroom.

Boat Pose requires a lot of abdominal strength and can be tough, for both kids and adults, to hold for a long time. But, if you practice this pose with a rendition of a kids transportation song like “Row, row, row your boat”, you may find it actually gets easier.

The are lots of variations of Boat Pose, just like there are lots of different boats. Sing along with our Boat Pose for Kids video below to practice, then ask children what type of boat they would like to make — or create some new poses and transportation songs together!

Other Kids Yoga Transportation Activities Like Boat Pose Include:

• How to master Boat Pose for kids
• Teamwork Canoe Pose using partner yoga
• Bow Pose using our Gondola transportation song
• Our new app collection of extended play transportation songs and yoga videos for kids

2. Airplane Pose

Once you have traveled over the water, switch things up and fly in the sky on an airplane. Airplane pose (Warrior 3 for kids), is a full-body transportation pose that builds strength, focus and balance. It also helps with sensory integration, specifically vestibular and proprioception.

Balancing on one foot is not easy at any age and, for preschool age children, can be especially challenging. So we make it a fun transportation activity while also taking the opportunity to teach about patience and perseverance.

Encourage children to try balancing and, if they feel wobbly, to tap their foot down and then try again. As with anything we do, the more we practice the easier it gets. Soon, you may find you are able to balance 5, 10, or even 30 seconds!

• Can your kids name any other means of transport in the sky?

3. Helicopter Pose

If you guessed a helicopter as another means of air transportation, you’ll love this next kids yoga pose.

Helicopter Pose’s fun transportation song for preschoolers brings us into a seated twist, which strengthens and lengthens the spine while opening the chest and shoulders. Moving the arms in a circular motion also relieves stress and calms our nervous system!

You can explore the musical elements or pitch (high to low) and tempo (fast to slow) by changing up the speed of the twist, as well as the melody.

Invite children to share ideas about how they might make their own helicopter, and use these Helicopter transportation song lyrics and twist instructions to guide you.

Try Our New Yoga App For Interactive White Boards

4. Hot Air Balloon

Up, up, and away! Board a big, bright, colorful hot air balloon and soar over your hometown. Look over the edge: can you see your house or neighborhood from way up in the sky?

This seated transportation activity for preschoolers helps children practice breath regulation and gentle twists while developing SEL (social emotional regulation).

Twisting is relaxing and grounding, and promotes digestion. We can also highlight how to use hot air balloon breathing when big emotions take hold — this teaches children to regulate their emotions.

5. Train Pose

City kids travel a lot by subway so traveling by train is always a popular transportation activity request in Yo Re Mi classes. We sit on our train in Staff Pose and then do lots of fun variations with our upper body: incorporating a twist, side bend, forward fold, and even core work.

Not only do we stretch our whole body in this transportation activity, we also utilize some super yoga breathing. When we make the CH-CH-CH sound, we are learning to control and moderate our breathing as well as exploring rhythm. Let’s jump on the train…ALL ABOARD!!!

More Breathing Exercises:

• For more breathing tips and activities, check out this list of our favorite breathing exercises for children.

6. Car Pose

Who doesn’t love to go for a drive? Strap on your seatbelt and let’s zoom away!

Another totally relatable transportation activity for preschoolers, Car Pose yoga for children can be adjusted to fit different types of automobiles. Maybe your car is a taxi, a race car, or a police vehicle.

Ask the children what kind of car they are driving and get ready for some creative ideas.

To use our bodies to make a car, we combine a wide-legged forward fold with some side stretching. Then we work our core as we press the pedals and roll the windows up and down. Ready…set…go!

7. Rocket Ship Pose

Rocket Ship Pose is a popular request because every kid loves outer space! Traditionally called Chair Pose, this exciting pose keeps children alert while working the arms, legs, and core.

This transportation activity helps preschoolers practice counting backwards from 10. When we count down from 10 to “prepare for take off”, we help everyone stay in this super-strengthening yoga pose longer — even if it gets challenging. The reward is a blast off into an energizing Star Pose.

8. Bus Pose

We love this yoga activity and transportation song for preschoolers! In our original rhyme about getting on the bus, kids can practice Chair or Fierce Pose and then roll back to Plow Pose. Don’t worry if that sounds confusing — our musical yoga video below will help guide you.

What are the benefits of Bus Pose? Like its use in Rocket Ship (mentioned above) Chair Pose strengthens our legs and lengthens our spine; then Plow Pose gives us a deep fold and inversion, which sends lots of freshly oxygenated blood to our brain for clarity and focus!

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9. Pirate Ship

Our Pirate Ship transportation song for preschoolers is perfect for children who love using their imagination to think of big travel adventures — especially across the sea!

Your group of preschoolers can pair up and work together on this transportation activity, practicing wide-legged forward fold while singing our fun pirate song!

Partner poses strengthen social-emotional learning skills and wide-legged forward fold lengthens our adductors, the muscles that pull our legs in towards our bodies.

Related Reading:

• More partner yoga poses for kids to try
• Awesome water theme yoga poses for indoor classroom activities

10. Scooter Scat

Do any of your kids have a scooter? Then you’ll likely receive a scooter suggestion during your transportation activity. Lucky for you we have the perfect transportation song for preschoolers…and it’s all about scooters!

In our original Scooter Scat, kids practice maintaining their balance while using their imagination (and memory) to take a ride along their scooters. Let’s kick with the left foot and balance. Now the right foot, and balance. Can you stay upright?

The ability to balance and recognize opposite feet are developmental milestones! The Scooter Scat helps further develop motor skills, coordination, core strength, and balance.

11. Bicycle Pose

How many bicycles did you see on your way to school today? Where do you think those cyclists were going? Maybe to work. Maybe to school too!

Bicycle Pose is accompanied by a soothing transportation song for preschoolers. It is relaxing and strengthening, incorporating cycling leg “circles”, followed by Bridge Pose.

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Do you have a bigger group of preschoolers? Try transportation yoga poses with a partner!

Traveling is always more fun with friends. Most of these kids travel poses have partner variations which encourage children to explore working together and supporting one another.

Here are two of our faves: partner boat and group train!

For partner boat have children face each other and do the variations with their feet connected. To make group train, you can do the whole sequence sitting in a long line!

Which is your favorite transportation activity or song for preschoolers?

Most people think of yoga classes as a quiet, slow, meditational experience… for adults. That’s not what a kids yoga class looks like, at least not all the time.

Children learn best through play, so a children’s yoga experience often requires a certain amount of fun and engagement — especially if the yoga activity is intended to integrate with or supplement academic curriculum.

Our team helps educators and classrooms use their transportation imagination to try fun pose variations. Bring us to your school or download our Interactive White Board-compatible Yoga App and let’s explore your favorite way to travel!

Safe trip everyone and Bon voyage!