Buses, boats, and trains! What’s your little favorite transportation system? There are many modes of transportation that allow us to move from one part of the world to another, and learning about them is one the first things that little ones do as soon as they start communicating with their families.
During early childhood, children are dependant on their parents to carry them around before they start walking, they hop up into their little strollers and travel the city with mom and dad guiding them. As soon as they start getting older, children start playing with toy cars, learning how to drive through their houses, which turns out to be a great exercise for children’s spatial awareness. As they reach a certain age, bicycles are the way to go for many kids that wish to set out on adventures with family and friends!
So, talking about the different types of transportation comes almost naturally to the little ones. But there’s more to this topic than just learning names of vehicles: it’s also important to learn to express the action of using the different transportation systems. When talking about transport, we can use prepositions or verbs to express ourselves. Let’s learn the most common vocabulary about transportation and also verbs related to transportation.
Types of Transportation
Depending on the destination, there is a myriad of vehicles that are suited to travel to various places. For example, you can go by land if there are roads and highways available; or maybe by air if the distance is too long; or even by water if you live on an island. Let’s check out the different means of transport there are.
⛅ Air Transport
Is the fastest mean of transport, and it consists of a vehicle traveling by air.
helicopter
hot air balloon
airplane (plane)
blimp
rocket
spaceship
space shuttle
zeppelin
✈️ Airport Vocabulary
airport / aircraft / air traffic control
airline / baggage / aisle seat / cabin
window seat / boarding pass / carry-on luggage
check-in desk / copilot / pilot / customs
flight / landing / flight attendant / jet lag
round trip / seat belt / terminal / take-off
Water Transportation
It refers to all the transport made over a body of water, such as a lake, an ocean, a sea, a river, or a canal.
sailboat
cruise ship
cargo ship
speedboat
jet ski
pirate ship
boat
ship
submarine
yacht
canoe
amphibious vehicle
gondola
kayak
tugboat
airboat
ferry
raft
coast guard ship
Sailing Vocabulary
port / starboard / anchor / launch
hatch / sails / course / pier
quay / stern / bow / harbor / aboard
paddle / lifeboat / dam / embark
scuttle / lighthouse / fleet / rudder
breakwater / merchant ship / shipyard
️ Land Transport
It refers to all the vehicles that can transport people or objects by land.
bicycle
car
bus
train
truck
van
taxi
motorcycle (motorbike)
tram
subway
scooter
tricycle
pick-up truck
tractor
cable car
airship
SUV
trolley bus
garbage truck
ambulance
wagon
convertible
dogsled
forklift
go-cart
golf cart
hybrid
snowmobile
tow track