Construction Trip

If you have a place that is under construction ask if there is any safe
 place you can take your class so they can watch the construction.
Talk about the big diggers, safety precautions etc. 
Have everyone wear yellow hard hats from the dollar store!

House Tour

If there are any interesting houses in your area ask if you can take
 your class for a tour and then have them draw the house afterwards.

Building Props...

Add a pair of sawhorses to your block area or outdoor play area. Check with parents
 or ask a local hardware store or home improvement store to donate these. You
 might also ask for help collecting some other building props. Such as wood scraps,
 roofing paper, plastic tubing, PVC pipes, pulleys, and the materials to make a Paint and Paper Store.

Construction Worker or a Dad

Invite a construction worker or a couple Dad's to bring their (real) tools and show the
 children how they work. Provide blocks of real wood, hammer, nails, screws, screw driver
s and safety glasses . Be sure to have each Dad work with just a few children at a time.
 The children need to be closely supervised working with heavy hammers and such.

Ask the Exerts

There are so many interesting tools and gadgets designed to do all kinds of jobs. 
Why not let an expert tell your children  all about them?  Plan a field trip to your
 local hardware store or home improvement center. Or ask a carpenter to come
visit your classroom and bring along some of the tools he uses.  Your tour guide
or speaker may be able to demonstrate how some tools work, talk about safety,
 and show your students some unusual tools they may not have seen before. 

After the visit, deliver an oversized thank you note to your handy hardware guide.
In large letters write, "You're To-tool-ly Cool!" near the center of a colorful sheet
of poster board.  Then write a thank you message below the title.  Have your
children cut out pictures of tools from hardware store advertisement circulars
and glue them around the edges of the poster.  Present the poster to your tool guide.

Outdoor Construction Play

I purchase several large bags of clean dirt . We made a dirt pile out by the play area.
 I put cars, dump trucks, fire trucks, blocks of wood, small shovels, rakes and buckets
 in that area. I invite the children to play with the dirt and toys provided. On really hot
 days I give them spray bottles of water and dishpan tubs of water that we refill as needed.

Under Construction

Create construction zones in your room by marking off your centers with plastic
 cones from your playground, boundary tape, or sections of plastic lattice fencing.

Bring Your Hammer To School Day

Invite parents to send a hammer to school for their child to use, but try to have some extras
 on hand anyway. Provide wood scraps, nails, and rubber bands. Let the children hammer the
 nails into the wood anyway they like. They can use the rubber bands to
 make shapes by stretching them between the nails, similar to a geoboard.

Construction Site

Choose a construction site in which to make a video.  Record a home being built in the
 neighborhood, a crew working on a new section of roadway, or a renovation of a
 commercial building.  Please be sure to talk with the foreman to explain your interest
 and obtain his or her permission to make a video beforehand.  Record some of the
  equipment in use at the construction site.  Include the workers to show what they
 are wearing and the kinds of tools they are using.  If possible, interview one or two
of the workers.  Ask questions about the clothing they wear for work, their jobs
 on the site, and what safety precautions they take while they are working.

Gather the children together and tell them you had an opportunity to make
a special video tape some people at work.  Show the video to the children.
Lead a discussion about what they saw on the video. 

CONSTRUCTION  LINKS

Construction Theme Ideas at Child's Play

Construction Theme Ideas at Perpetual Preschool

Bob the Builder Coloring Pages at NickJr

Construction Activities at DLTK

Construction Theme Coloring Pages

Butler Machinery Kids Page