What is about cars that kids love?
All of my kids loved playing with cars when they were little, and even now they are getting bigger they still love getting the cars and blocks out and building a city. And the toddler that we look after once a week asks to get the cars out every single time. All he wants to do is drive vehicles over every available surface, crash them into each other, and build ‘sheds’ for them to live in.
There is just something awesome about toy cars.
We have a lovely set of wooden roads that match our train set, but we just don’t have enough of them. The road stops too soon and there is not enough corners or crossroads. We needed to get some more, so I made some printable roads to add to the collection
It took a little while mucking around on the computer, plus a new ink cartridges (why does printer ink always run out at the worst possible moment?) and now we have as many roads as we like!
All we need to do is print them.
These turned out even better than I had hoped.
We printed out two sets to begin with, and then just printed out extras of each road shape as we needed them.
Adding trees and blocks and signs our roads quickly became a town with a parking lot, a tunnel and, of course, a shed!
Because we were in a hurry to use them I just printed them on plain paper, cut them out and got busy playing, but we’ve laminated a set now so that they will withstand lots and lots of car play!
You can download the printable roads here.
This printable is an A4 sized pdf file, you will need a pdf reader such as adobe acrobat to open it. If you are printing on US ‘letter sized’ paper be sure to select ‘fit’ or ‘shrink to fit’ from your printer options.
Please remember that the printables at picklebums.com are for personal use only, you may not sell, share, or link directly to these files.
We’d love to see how you play with the printable roads.
If you have fun playing with our printable roads we’d love to see some pictures! Tag me on instagram (@picklebums) or share a photo on our facebook page.
Free Printable Road Signs and Accessories
Thanks to the TAC we have some brand new free printable road signs and accessories that match these free printable roads and compliment lots of road safety learning. You can find great tips for helping kids learn about road safety and download the free printable road signs set here.
Veens says
Aarya is going to LOVE this. THANK YOU! I am going to print these right away :)
Kate - An Everyday Story says
They are very wonderfully cool. I know a little man here who would love them too :) … shame I have a dodgy printer though…might need to twoddle over to mum’s house ;)
Debs says
Fun, fun, fun! I shall need more ink though. haha. Shared on fb :)
Aleta @ Hinterland Mama says
Great printables as always Kate and LOVE-ing the dolls, blocks, trees you have used with them. I’ve been working on some trees that actually look quite similar… Can you tell me where the dolls came from in the 2nd photo? They’re divine!
Off to share this x
katef says
My Dad made the trees, the turned blocks and the people. I may have a few sets for sale soon – if I can get my act together!
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says
What a great idea! My son would love these too! He also likes to build “sheds” for his trucks! LOL! How did you keep the paper from moving around? I see that as a frustrating problem for my son. tape?
katef says
We just used blocks to hold down the roads at first, but after I laminated the pieces they lay much flatter and stay put, any that were a problem we added a bit of blue tack to :)
Angie says
Great idea I love it. But where I can buy the sign roads, the tunnels & the trees.
katef says
The road signs came from windmill toys – http://www.windmill.net.au/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=5307435&A=SearchResult&SearchID=20362668&ObjectID=5307435&ObjectType=27
The tunnels are part of our rainbow, and water element sets that we got from Entropy – http://www.entropy.com.au/grimm-s-rainbow-elements-stacker-small
And the trees and other blocks my Dad made – I may have some available for sale in the future.
Theresa in Texas says
Could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this today–been working on finding just the right “roads” for several days. These are definitely the best! I subscribed to your blog for ideas to use in packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. I don’t sew but was thinking of making a roll up using “heat and bond” but I think your roads will fit in the shoeboxes just fine and will give the child many more options that the small fabric one I would be able to fit in. Again thank you so much!! I don’t believe in coincidences, I believe in “God-incidences and this is certainly one!
katef says
So lovely to think our roads will be off to brighten Christmas for someone. :)
Nathalie Brown says
Going to add these to my work kit fantastic thanks
jaime@FSPDT says
so cool. Much better than the ones i drew for my son a few weeks ago for an activity we did. Pinning this so we can use them in the future:-)
Louise says
Hi Kate – did you print the black or just white on black paper?
Thanks for sharing
Louise
Jode@mummymusingsandmayhem says
These are fantastic Kate…what a generous printable…my girls will love them once laminated i think. All the props are so sweet too, your Dad is so clever! Shall share and pin x
Kirsten McCulloch says
Fantastic! I have a feeling all my kids will get a kick out of these, 3, 6 & 11 year olds. :) I don’t have a printer, but will be downloading and sending them to work for the DH to print (I took a redundancy from my day job last week, so no longer have a printer on call for of my own.)
I foresee lots of school holiday fun!
Georgia says
Thank you! Kept 2 children very happy on a rainy day. :)
Ness @ One Perfect Day says
Kate these are brilliant! R is going to love them – we have cabin fever from all this rain so we needed something like this, thanks! Pinned and shared on my FB wall too.
Rachael :: Nothing if Not Intentional says
These are so great! Not only will my car-loving daughter love these, but we also have a lot of birthday parties coming up for babies and young toddlers. These roads with a few cars would be a very sweet and not-too-expensive gift! :)
michelle says
this is such a great idea my son will love it .
my printers not working but l have a white pen /white paint and some black paper so l will try that .
Deb @ Living Montessori Now says
These are fabulous, Kate! My son was always obsessed with vehicles, and he would have LOVED these when he was little. Thanks so much for sharing your printable! I featured your post as the Free Printable of the Day at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow (and on Pinterest).
Lesley says
Loving the print out road! My son loves it, we’ve stuck them down on card and added small world animals, cars! Love it thank you..
lemondedis says
quelle bonne idée ! merci pour le partage… j’ai créé un lien ici : http://pinterest.com/lemondedis/jeux-pour-les-ptits-chats-freebies/
Cristina says
This is such an awesome idea!
Rachel says
Oh wow- these are fantastic! What a great idea. I would love to link to these if you didn’t mind.
katepickle says
More than happy for you to share an image with a link back Rachel. Send me an email if you need anything else :)
Alicia says
Hi! I love your printable roads! We made some similar ones out of felt for our daughter. Took a bit longer but fun to make :)
We featured your post in a round up of similar do-it-yourself toy car ideas on our blog and linked back here!
Love your blog!
Jen says
Thank you for sharing the roads…my daughter is using them as we speak for her “Lego” town!
Montse Casás says
Muchas gracias Kate por compartir todos estos imprimibles .
lourdes says
gracias, exelente idea. Nos alegro una tarde de lluvia. Utilizamos el reverso de papel usado y una caja de carton para incluir pendientes y un tunel
karin says
great, thank you very much :-)
limeslounge says
Hi Kate,
wonderful blog :-)
Please, can you install a translationbutton?
That would be great! Regards, Petra
Heather says
how simply awesome! I’ve been looking at the expensive track sets in the store and not liking what I’ve found. I laminated the roads and added tabs with velcro so that they can stick together much like the wooden and plastic train sets connect. My kids love them! I also saved on ink by printing one set (draft quality) to serve as a template then used BLACK cardstock with white out (no white paint in the house) to make multiple sets. Thanks for the idea!
Ashley says
I have been looking for something like this for ages! The little boy I look after is going to absolutely love these. BIG THANKS!
Monika says
I made one copy and now I’m off to the photocopier- much cheaper 5 cents a page :)
Deborah says
I found an ink website that I love. HP has a website that is called HP connect and it makes printing so cheep. I am not connected with HP but I love it and wanted to share with teachers like myself that pay too much for printing. For 300 printable pages they charge $ 9.99. I had an old computer and it didn’t have the capacity for talking to HP so I went and got one from Staples for $50 that was listed on HP’s website because it can communicate with HP. They send you the ink-no charge and just bill you for how many pages you print. They are fast on sending more ink and they don’t care if all 300 pages are all color- it is still the same price. If you go over the 300 pages, they charge about a penny more than what it is for the printed pages on the contract. You can quit if you hate it at any time- which I doubt. I love it and love to see teachers save money as I know they can spend it on other stuff. The website is HP Instant Ink or HP direct.
shirley says
Thanks so much for share with us
The Educational Tourist says
What a marvelous idea! I love using painter’s tape for roads, but this is heavenly, too! Wonderful for older kids as well – let them do the cutting. Thanks for sharing such a creative idea.
Meghann says
These are awesome!
Ces Rivera says
These are very helpful to my preschool unit in land transportation. Thank you for sharing it online and for free! God bless you! :)
Liz says
Thank you for a super resource. The 4-5 year olds in my class are creating their local area this week, we are going to work in groups to cut and stick these roads as well as local shop logos and houses onto massive sugar paper. This was just what I was looking for, I love that people like you make teachers lives easier, thank you :)
KUSUMANINGRUM says
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS FOR SHARING THIS…MY SON LOVE IT.
mitha riawan says
very thanks.. its a great idea… hope i can make it to my little cheeky girl
Ann says
I just discovered these! Too much fun. I might have to make them in fabric! (Shared on facebook!)
Elaine says
maybe you could minimise movement by sticking a piece of fine sandpaper on the back- IF you use them on carpet?
Sarah says
Thanks so much for this wonderful resource. I’ve written about them + some photos on my blog about being mummy to a car crazy kid. We’ve laminated our roads and I use a tiny bit of sticky tape to stop them moving about. I totally had scissor RSI after cutting out all these roads before and after laminating! Thanks again. http://carcrazykid.com/2016/02/17/printable-roads-my-fave-free-car-games-for-kids/
Karolina says
Dzi?kuje:) bardzo przydatne materia?y, gratuluje kreatywno?ci i ciekawych pomys?ów. Pozdrawiam
karen says
I have been making fences for zoos with popsicle sticks and jenga (or generic) blocks. simply glue gun 3 popsicle or craft sticks to the flat side of the jenga blocks, top and bottom at the edge and one in the middle. one way this will make a fence. or stand them on end to make bars for the zoo. I also use the wood thread spools with pieces of green in them for greenery at the zoo. use christmas tree/wreath parts of picks and glue gun them in. silk flowers will also work. don’t forget to stick an American flag in one spool to show our pride. ABC blocks are used to spell out the name of the child and then ZOO. first one was for my little friend so was FREDS ZOO. he liked to call the green stuff food for the animals. He already had lots of animals. and lots of cars so I also spelled out PARKING LOT and made a parking area. I set this all up in an old white bookcase. worked well as he could see it all and it was not spread out all over the floor. He also would make one shelf for Artic animals, one for Jungle. I am now making another one and have been collecting all sorts of nice natural wood. made food troths and lined them with blue for water and green, light green and brown painted wood pieces to simulate food. Made a large (4″ x 6″) pool with blue and wood sides for the seals, whales, sharks and other water animals to live in. any of these things got made to the size of the blocks that i had that could fit together. For about 18 months I have been collecting items from thrift shops. even found some wheels so made some carts to take animals from one cage to another. also found some flat green pine trees that will be nice to go in the back as they will not take up too much room. Have not found people at thrift store yet, but have seen them on line selling for doll houses. then i would have to make picnic tables and benches, etc. Did find many farm animals so am making that as another box of goodies. for that one I only glued craft sticks to the top and middle of the jenga blocks. Hours of play for girls or boys and they will add to it animals, cars, people they have. other blocks will be good for animals to climb on. and additional boxes will appear to make more living quarters for the different animals. also lends itself to crafting with kids. chunks of white packing material can be made into icebergs. egg cartons can be cut to make boulders. sticks, pinecones, etc. can be gathered for landscaping and for monkey habitat. so much to stretch imagination. Sorry i have no pictures but to all — Have Fun. Karen