Learn with Emilia · Story 9
About “Things That Go”
- Ages: 2-5
- Length: 6 min
- Season: Learn with Emilia, story 9
Emilia and Pip ride into town to see things that go: her own bike, a beeping car, a honking bus full of friends, a long choo-choo train, a tooting boat and an airplane zooming across the sky. And the traffic light says stop and go!
For a toddler who points at every truck and train, this story is a guided tour of town. Six vehicles come by one after another, and each has its own sound to copy, from a bell's ring-ring to an airplane's zoom. One page stops at a traffic light and explains the three colors in plain words. Another gathers everything up by where it travels, roads, tracks, water or sky, which gives a child a first way to sort things into groups. Ellie and Miss Giraffe wave from the bus, with Miss Giraffe's head poking out the top, and Emilia rides her own bike with her helmet on.
- vehicles
- vehicle sounds
- traffic lights
- sorting by where things travel
This story is coming to YouTube soon. You can read it below and print its coloring page now.
What Emilia learns
- bike
- car
- bus
- train
- boat
- airplane
Tips for grown-ups
- Turn the sounds into a guessing game: you make the sound and your child names the vehicle, like the Your Turn round at the end.
- At a crosswalk, point to the signal and ask what red and green mean, remembering the little red car that stopped on red. Then hold hands and cross together.
- Sort toy vehicles into four groups, road, track, water and sky, using the story's 'where' page as a guide.
- Point out that Emilia wears her helmet even for a short ride into town.
- Count train cars together when you see a train, or line up blocks as a train and count those.
Talk about it
After watching, ask:
- What goes beep, beep?
- What does red mean?
- Who was riding on the bus?
- Where does a boat go?
- What has wings to fly in the sky?
- Which one would you like to ride?
Try this together
Make a traffic light from red, yellow and green paper circles. Your child zooms around the room as a car while you hold up a color: stop on red, slow down on yellow, go on green.
Free coloring page
Things That Go: Bike and Train: print it (US Letter or A4) or color it on screen.
Read the story
Emilia and Pip went to town one fine day,
to see all the things that go! Hooray!
First, her bike! Ring, ring! Pedal, pedal, go!
A bike has two wheels. Not too fast, not too slow.
Her helmet on her head, and Pip in her basket too,
ring, ring went her bell: hello to you!
Then a little red car came by: beep, beep, beep!
A car drives on the road, down the busy street!
Then it stopped at the corner. Why did it stop?
The traffic light was red! Red means stop, stop, stop!
Red on the top, then yellow, then green below.
Red means stop! And green means go!
And yellow? Yellow means slow... slow... slow.
Green! Beep, beep! Off the little car goes!
Then a big yellow bus came by: honk, honk! Hello!
A bus carries lots of friends, all in a row!
Ellie waved from the window. And Miss Giraffe?
Her head popped out the top! What a laugh!
Choo, choo! A long, long train on its track!
An engine, and cars! Clickety-clack, clickety-clack!
A train rides on tracks. Look how long! Look how far!
It went by, and by, and by... car after car!
Down by the water: toot, toot! A boat!
A boat floats on water. Float, float, float!
Boats go on water, and never on the ground,
bobbing, and bobbing, up, down, and around.
And then, way up high... zoom! An airplane flew by!
An airplane has wings, to fly in the sky!
Up with the clouds, and the birds, and the sun,
she waved bye-bye. Bye, airplane! What fun!
Cars and buses on roads, and a train on its track,
a boat on the water, going there, and back,
an airplane up high, in the big blue sky,
and a bike for Emilia, going by, by, by!
Then home on her bike went Emilia and Pip.
Ring, ring! What a wonderful, going-places trip!
Your turn! Listen, and guess what goes!
What goes beep, beep?
A car!
What goes choo, choo?
A train!
What goes toot, toot?
A boat!
What goes ring, ring?
A bike!
What goes honk, honk?
A bus!
And what flies in the sky?
An airplane! Zoom!
You know things that go! Hooray for you!
Beep, beep! Choo, choo! Toot, toot! Zoom!
Let's sing things that go, and dance round the room!
Then over to her backpack, for pin number nine:
a little red train! Click! Oh, it looks fine!
Nine pins on her backpack! Is she proud? Oh, yes!
Just one more to go! What's next? Can you guess?
Every day, there's something new to know,
and every time you learn, you grow, and grow!
Next time: Emilia's five senses! Bye-bye!
Questions parents ask
Does the traffic light page teach road safety?
It teaches what the three colors mean. Crossing a street safely takes more than that, so use the page as a starting point for talking about holding hands and crossing with a grown-up.
Are there any real car brands in the story?
No. Every vehicle is a simple cartoon with no brands or logos.