Cars and trains are made of rectangles and circles. A car has a long rectangle body, a shorter rectangle on top, square windows and two circle wheels.
A train engine has a tall rectangle cab, a long rectangle boiler, a little rectangle chimney and three circle wheels.
Key idea
Rectangles for the body, circles for the wheels. The wheels sit at the bottom and touch the ground.
Why it works
Wheels roll on the road. If they float up inside the car, the car looks like it is flying, not driving.
Common mistake
Many children draw the wheels inside the car, or floating above the road. Draw the road line first, then set the wheels on it.
Worked example: Let's look
How many circles does the train engine need?
- Count the wheels in the picture: one, two, three.
- Each wheel is a circle.
Answer: 3 circles.
For the grown-up. Look at real cars on a walk and count the wheels you can see from the side (usually two). Ask, "Where do the wheels touch?"