There were planes, trains and automobiles. And space shuttles, ice cream trucks, Barbie cars, fire trucks, school buses, tanks, a John Deere tractor and carriages fit for a princess.
In fact, it was a regular transportation parade and the “drivers” were 4-year-olds at Brockland Learning Center. The occasion was the celebration at the end of a unit of study on — what else — transportation.
Brockland teacher Tiffany Terry, who helped organize the event, said she participated in a similar activity at a previous school in Texas that used the same curriculum. She brought the idea to Brockland last year, where it was such a success that it was replicated this year.
The premise is that parents and students build a mode of transportation at home and bring their projects to the school for a parade. Students then “drive” their vehicle around the paved walking path around the playground. Actually, the child has to carry the vehicle, usually made of cardboard, via straps on their shoulders or carry it by hand.
“The box can be heavy and large,” Terry said. “We encourage parents to participate. Some are very creative. We had a motorized helicopter last year.”
Every student gets to participate, even those who may not have a vehicle. Every parade needs spectators so students without a vehicle serve as the audience, lining the parade route and clapping and cheering as each mode of transportation passes by.
“It teaches students how to be part of the audience and cheer their peers on,” Terry said. “Both have to participate as audience and participant.”
Fire trucks proved to be popular entries, such as Dax Dean’s.
“When I put my arms down, my belly touches the buttons. I have four buttons on the siren,” Dean said. “My mommy and daddy made it. I wanted to be a fire truck. It’s heavy.”
Some entries were unique, such as the camouflage tank and the silver fighter jet, whose owner was dressed in a flight suit and aviator glasses. Others were more complex, such as the 48-inch tall NASA space shuttle with “astronaut” Greyson Travis inside. Greyson’s mom, Autumn, said it took her about two weeks to make the shuttle out of paper mache and pool noodles. The wings were cardboard, with two, two-liter bottles as the boosters on the back with red and yellow streamers coming out of them for flames.
“He wanted a space shuttle. He wanted it up and down. So I just made it happen,” she said. “I just had an idea in my head what it would look like. I went out on the internet to see about placement. He was super excited he gets to wear it.”
Although there were fittings to make sure the shuttle was a perfect fit, Greyson did not get to wear it until the day of the parade, lest he break it, his mom said.
Greyson did find one drawback to the shuttle: walking proved to be a challenge. At one point his father and grandfather picked him up by each arm and swung him down the path. As he lagged farther behind, he “ejected” from the shuttle and ran down the trail to catch up with his classmates before donning the shuttle again.
What was Travis going to do with the shuttle now?
“Oh, I have no idea,” his mother said.
Ashley Ferrone was able to fulfill her daughter Olivia’s wish to ride in a princess carriage. The carriage was made out of cardboard, pool noodles, hula hoops and greenery — lots of greenery. Olivia’s stuffed buffalo was mounted on the front of the carriage to “pull” it.
“I sat down yesterday and started decorating like crazy. I went to art school, so I’m used to pressure,” Ferrone said. “This made me feel like an absolute art failure. It was a big challenge. I was really worried it wasn’t going to come together.”
Constructing the carriage was just the first hurdle. Transporting it to school was another challenge. Ferrone said she had to take everything out and lay the back seats down in her SUV. She also came prepared in case she had to make emergency repairs. She brought a glue gun and extra greenery in case they were needed.
Once she got it home, what was she going to do with it?
“We have a really big living room,” she said.
Olivia seemed thrilled with her carriage.
“I love it. It’s a Cinderella carriage. I’m going to wear it for Halloween,” she said.