Play Trains!

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright
  • Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
  • Gift Guides
  • Parents & Teachers
    • Parenting Little Engineers
    • Train Tips & Tricks
  • Play
    • Wooden Train Play
    • Trackmaster and Take’n’Play
    • Pretend Play
    • Sensory Play
      • Water Play
      • Light Play
    • Outdoor Activities
    • Fine Motor Activities
  • Learn
    • Literacy Activities with Trains
    • Science Activities with Trains
    • Math Activities with Trains
    • Engineering Activities with Trains
    • Music Activities with Trains
    • Social, Emotional, and Practical Skills
    • Cooking with Kids
  • Create
    • DIY Projects
      • Train Play Sets
      • Train Set Accessories
      • Train Set Scenery
      • DIY Wooden Train Sets
      • DIY Train Tables
      • Pipe Cleaner Trees
      • DIY Costumes and Clothes
    • Train Crafts for Kids
    • Train Art Activities
    • Kid-made Gifts
    • Upcycled Train Projects
  • by Age
    • Toddlers
    • Preschoolers
    • School-age Kids
  • by Stage
    • New to Trains
    • Train Obsessed
    • Making Trains Exciting Again
  • Through the Year
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
    • Holidays
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
    • Special Days
      • Birthdays
      • Day Out With Thomas
      • Train Shows and Exhibitions
  • Books

Autumn Zoo Train Play

September 19, 2014 By Jessica Petersen Leave a Comment



Looking through photos from last year, I found this fun fall-themed zoo train activity. The Little Engineer and I came up with it by combining the loose parts from our October Moon Train Play activity with our DIY Zoo Train Set. I thought it was a great way to show how the activities we share and the materials we recommend can be mixed for an endless variety of play. So, here’s a little glimpse into how the stuff we come up with for Play Trains! works its way into our everyday play.

Autumn Zoo Train Play from Play Trains!

 

October Moon Train Play + DIY Zoo Train Set

This is often what happens at our house: we create activities for Play Trains! that are fairly specific — or, at least as clear as we can make them. And then, once we’ve tried out the idea and put away the camera, we mix them all up into something crazy and wonderful and hard to describe. This particular play session happened after we were done playing with the October Moon play invitation. It was a pretty simple one, and while the Little Engineer enjoyed it, it wasn’t something that he wanted me to leave set up for more than one day.

Autumn Zoo Train Play from Play Trains!

The clear acrylic pumpkins and fall leaves migrated to where our upcycled train zoo was, and soon he was building a new track through the zoo and hauling pumpkins for the animals to eat. (Like many zoos, the two that we visit in our area do special holiday-themed enrichment activities for the animals, including feeding them pumpkins and using the pumpkins to deliver their food at Halloween.)

Autumn Zoo Train Play from Play Trains!

Giving the pumpkins a purpose — feeding the animals — turned out to be a much more interesting concept for the Little Engineer than using them for light play. No surprise there, considering he loves animals, and any kind of pretend play involving taking care of them.

If an activity doesn’t ignite your child’s imagination immediately, try looking around for an additional material to add to it, something that adds a new relationship between the objects and ideas involved. And even if a child really enjoys an activity, it can be even more fun to see what it evolves into with a little creativity.

Looking for more creative train activities for YOUR kids?

Grab a copy of Old Tracks, New Tricks! In the fun, rhyming story, three creative little wooden train tracks stand up to the bossy trains and teach the whole train set that old tracks — and trains! — can learn new tricks. Full instructions for the 20+ “track-tivities” in the story are included in the back of the book, along with an illustrated guide to teach kids how to create their own “track tricks.” You can find tons of extension activities at the Old Tracks, New Tricks website!

Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen: a wooden train picture book that inspires creative play!
 
Fall Activities for Kids from Play Trains!

Fall Activities for Kids from Play Trains!

Filed Under: Fall, Preschoolers, Train Obsessed, Wooden Train Play Tagged With: activities, fall, freight, train play, wooden trains

« Apple Harvest Pom Pom Tree Fine Motor Activity
Fall Activities for Kids from Play Trains! »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Jessica Petersen, author of Old Tracks, New Tricks
Hi, I'm Jessica! We're so happy you've climbed aboard the Play Trains! express. Next stop: a trainload of fun and learning for your little engineer!

Our Book!

The Play Trains! Guide to Wooden Train Sets: expert advice on the best wooden train set to buy for your little engineer.

The Play Trains! Guide to the Best Wooden Train Sets 2021

The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide -- Wooden Train Track: expert advice and product recommendations

Wooden Train Tracks — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide

The Play Trains Ultimate Wooden Train Guide: The Best Wooden Train Tables for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Best Train Tables — The Ultimate Wooden Train Guide

Copyright

Copyright © 2012 - 2023 Jessica Petersen, All Rights Reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Disclosure

Some product links on this site are affiliate links for products we think are worth checking out. The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and the Lego Brand Retail Affiliate Program. Read our the rest of our disclosure policy here.
A simple trick to give Lego minifigs a way to ride wooden trains -- from Play Trains!

Lego Minifigures and Wooden Trains: Tips and Tricks

Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set @ Play Trains! Come see how big the Little Engineer grinned the first time he put together this DIY train set you can take along to play anywhere!

Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set

Parents' Guide to Building with Dreamup Toys Wooden Railway Block Platforms -- how to combine your child's wooden train track and DUPLO, LEGO, or other interlocking building blocks!

Building with Dreamup Toys Wooden Railway Block Platforms

Our Train Videos on YouTube

About Me

Hi, I'm Jessica! While playing trains for the last several years, my Little Engineer and I have had a lot of fun and learned so much together. I'm excited to share our discoveries with other people who have kids who love trains in their lives.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Our Book!

Recent Posts

  • Best Train Sets for Toddlers
  • The Play Trains! Guide to the Best Wooden Train Sets 2021
  • The Best Battery-Powered Wooden Trains
  • Wooden Track Veggie Stack: a Wooden Train Activity
  • 55+ Creative Train Gift Ideas for Kids that Will Make You a Hero

Copyright © 2012 - 2018 by Jessica Petersen