Toddlerhood is often the time when children receive their first ever train set. But it's also a time when -- between choking hazards and fine motor development -- they're too young for many of the train sets that seem to be absolutely made for them, especially wooden train sets. Fortunately, over ...
The Play Trains! Guide to the Best Wooden Train Sets 2021
Searching for the best wooden train set for your child? I've turned my expert eye on the wooden train sets that currently on the market so that you can make an informed choice. A train set can sound good on paper, but there's nothing like hands-on play to tell you whether it's going to be the right ...
Wooden Track Veggie Stack: a Wooden Train Activity
What do you do when you want to introduce your children to all the wonderful things that the world has to offer, but all they want to do is play trains? You bring the world to the train set! If anything has ever exemplified this philosophy of mine, it's this wooden train track and toy vegetable ...
Whittle Shortline Railroad Review: Realistic Wooden Trains
Does your child like real trains? The bright colors and friendly faces found on many wooden trains appeal to a lot of children, but there are also plenty of kids who really want their toys to look like the real thing. And if you're looking for wooden trains that truly look like real trains -- or ...
Dreamup Toys Wooden Train Set Review
Children love to combine their DUPLO blocks and LEGO bricks with their wooden train sets. But, if you've ever tried it in your home or classroom, you probably have had the same experience we did, with the tracks sliding off the blocks and bricks. That's why I thought Dreamup Toys block platforms ...
Best Train Tables — The Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
Along with wooden train sets, wooden train tables are a classic feature in the children's playroom at home and the preschool classroom. It can be hard, however, to get an idea of all the options that are out there -- after all, I consider myself a pretty expert train stuff finder at this point, and ...
Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen
Old Tracks, New Tricks, is a story about three little wooden train tracks who shake up an old wooden train set. But it's so much more than that. It's a way to inspire children to invent new fun with their old favorite toys, and to value and celebrate the creativity of others at the same time as ...
PUFF by William Wondriska
A review of PUFF by William Wondriska, a stunning, classic picture book for kids who love trains, plus ideas for activities, materials, and toys to extend the book. ...
Thomas MINIS Advent Calendar Video Playdates
Come play with the Little Engineer! While our jumping off point for this series of video playdates is a Thomas MINIS advent calendar, our hope is to inspire a fun, creative play session with your child's favorite trains, plus some simple items or toys you probably already have around the house. ...
DIY Rainbow Train Set
The unfinished surface of wooden train tracks makes an excellent canvas for all kinds of creativity! And ever since I found a new source for unpainted wooden train cars, I've been working on a number of different DIY train sets to share with you. This first one is the one I'm most excited to share ...
Jingle Bell Candy Cane Tree Craft
Once I finally figured out how to make a pipe cleaner palm tree -- the final "real" tree on my list of pipe cleaner tree ideas -- I thought I'd be rid of the urge to make trees out of pipe cleaners and pom poms. However, it seems my freedom from this accidental obsession is still out of reach. I ...
Jingle Bell Coupling Chains for Wooden Trains
Here's a jingle bell train activity we did last year, but I never managed to write about the photos -- which means I've been looking forward to posting this for twelve months now! My son has always been very interested in couplers and coupling chains. For a long time, when I'd want him to hold my ...
Train Gifts for Toddlers
When I wrote Train Gifts for Toddlers as part of the 50+ Gift Guides for Kids series last year, it was the first post in a series of train gift guides for children organized by age. Now fully updated, it contains even more amazing toy trains, train books, and other train gifts for toddlers! ...
Wooden Train Jingle Bell Shakers
We love experimenting with adding other sensory elements to wooden train play. Adding sounds to our trains always is especially fun, and these wooden train jingle bell shakers are no exception. This is the perfect way to get child who loves trains involved in making music, whether that's Christmas ...
Do You Need a Train Table? — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
Do you need a train table? The best decision regarding whether a train table is worth the cost and the space will be different for every family and school. So let's go through the pros and cons of train tables, things I've learned through lots of experience and through talking with other parents and ...
Alternatives to Gluing Wooden Train Tracks to a Train Table
Many parents decide that gluing wooden train tracks to their child's train table is the way to go. If you've ever watched a toddler playing with a wooden train set -- tracks being pulled apart, bridges getting knocked over, the child getting frustrated, and parents rebuilding the layout over and ...
Beautiful Kid-made Gifts: Painting with Trains on Ceramics
Painting with trains and other toy vehicles is an excellent process art activity for kids, one that we've enjoyed on many occasions. But what I think is even cooler about painting with toy trains is that the patterns left by the wheels can create beautiful kid-made gifts without putting pressure on ...
Painting with Trains: Thomas the Tank Engine Candy Cane Ornament
I'm so happy to be participating in Mama Miss' 10 Days of a Kid-Made Christmas series for the second year in a row! This year, the theme is Ornaments Inspired by Children's Books, and 70+ bloggers are each coming up with an ornament for a different children's book. We decided to stay true to our ...
Christmas Train Books for Kids
If there's one type of train books for kids I've delighted in collecting more than the others, it's been Christmas train books. I've been looking forward to sharing this list of holiday books for young railroad enthusiasts for a long time, and here it is. I've also included suggested activities for ...
Building with Dreamup Toys Wooden Railway Block Platforms
If your child has ever wanted to be able to combine DUPLO or LEGO blocks with wooden train tracks, good news: there's a new product designed to connect tracks and bricks. Dreamup Toys sent us some of their Wooden Railway Block Platforms to test out, and I'm extremely happy to report that they do ...
Creative Building Play with DUPLO and Wooden Train Tracks
I'll bet most families who own both wooden train tracks and DUPLO blocks have thought, "If only there were a way we could combine these!" I know we did, and we've tried a few methods of doing it, but none of them worked particularly well. That's why I was excited when Dreamup Toys emailed me, asking ...
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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.