AUBURN - It was a show-and-tell day unlike any other for Mason and Mitchell Vitale.

The two young Westminster Nursery School students treated their classmates to a morning presentation of some really big toys when their father, Ben Vitale, vice president of Paul F. Vitale Inc., brought out a number of the company's construction vehicles for his sons to show the class.

Vitale said his son Mitchell, 4, will be moving on to regular school next year and that Mitchell and Mason, 2, both love the trucks in the family business, so Vitale wanted to share his children's enthusiasm with the rest of the school.

“We were going to try to work this out last year,” Vitale said. “But we couldn't make it work. This is Mitchell's last year here, so this is their show-and-tell day and we figured we should do something really special.”

Nursery school director Marcia Baker was very enthused about the idea, as were the teachers.

Teacher Kathy Trupiano said that the staff strives to find interactive experiences like this for all the students and that they often take field trips to do things like ice-skate and visit local farms to give the students a real life hands-on experience.

Trupiano said that like most children, the ones in her class love to build with blocks and play with cars and trucks. And the opportunity to see the life-size version of the toys they play with was an exciting one for all the students.

The Vitales provided toy hard-hats and as the students walked out to the parking lot across the street from the school, their eyes lit up to see the large trucks parked in front of them.

“This is just something different,” Trupiano said. “This is a real interesting experience. I think it is really neat for all of them. It is really wonderful to see.”

Vitale brought along several of the company's work vehicles, including a skid steer, backhoe, excavator and dump truck.

After members of the Vitale company gave the students tours of all the vehicles, demonstrating how they work, they gave the students a chance to climb in and play around a little. They also got to honk the horns and get their pictures taken in the driver's seat.

Nate Hand, 4, was among the students fascinated with the vehicles.

Hand said that he has seen them working on the roads, but he has never seen them up close like he did Wednesday and that he was particularly intrigued by the backhoe.

“I like the big digger,” Hand said. “I like how it scoops.”

“I love them,” Bryn Whitman, 4, said. “They are awesome.”

The look of wonder and awe that his own sons have for the vehicles is enough to keep Vitale happy, he said, but he wanted to share the experience with the boys' classmates.

“Everybody knows 'Bob the Builder,'” Vitale said. “Well, this is what I do. This is my business. It's great to see those jaws drop and that expression their faces.”