This week, we're part of the second annual School's Out: a Top Ten Summer Blog Hop, a series in which kid bloggers share their top activities for summer learning. Last year, I wrote about my Top Ten Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer. This year, I decided to feature some of our ...
Mini Sand Play Set
The Little Engineer loves playing the sand no matter what, but he loves it even more when we have some sort of grand plan involving his favorite things. The railroad we built in the sand after reading the Peter's Railway books last year was a plan like that, one that he remembers and has asked to do ...
Toy Surfboard Craft for Kids
This surfboard craft for kids is a great way to bring favorite toys into water play. The Little Engineer had so much fun pretending his toys were really surfing! Plus there's a lot of hands-on science going on, as kids try to get the toys to stand up on their surfboards. It would also be fun to make ...
Pencil Box Portable Train Set
I was getting ready to photograph a different portable train set, one we've taken with us many times in the past, when I had an idea. No, a challenge. I managed to fit a train small world in a pencil box, I thought. I would be pretty awesome if I could fit a complete wooden train set in ...
Four Seasons Tree Cups for Light Play
While we were creating and playing with the story cups we made for our light boxes, the Little Engineer particularly seemed to enjoy stacking two or three cups to make little scenes -- the sun cup over a blue sky cup, for example. That gave me the idea to make these stacking tree cups for light ...
Story Cups for Light Play
After I came up with our tiny trains and tracks for light play, I wanted to have some kind of scenery to add to our mini light box train layouts. At about the same time, I saw this wonderful post about Alphabet Cups on the Light Box over at The Imagination Tree. We had plenty of the little plastic ...
Train Track Counting Activity and Busy Bag
Over the past few years, I've had fun thinking up ideas for little activities and busy bags to put in my purse that are tailored to my son's interests. So, as you can imagine, we've played a lot of trains in a lot of different ways at restaurant tables. Here's a simple train track counting activity ...
Recycled Track Platform: DIY Project for Wooden Train Layouts
Elevation. It's one element of wooden train layouts that never fails to please, but often ends up frustrating everyone involved. While we have a few sturdy pieces that add height to our tracks in a reliable manner, most bridges and track supports are liable to be knocked over with the slightest ...
Train Engineer and Thomas & Friends Easter Eggs
We got to our Easter eggs at the last minute as always, but I'm so glad we did them! The Little Engineer loved it even more than last year and would have been happy to dye several more dozen eggs. As for me, my Thomas & Friends eggs turned out to be much easier to make than I was expecting. ...
Easter Train Books for Kids
I love reading holiday-themed books with the Little Engineer. He often requests the best ones all year round, and train-themed books have been especially popular. (No suprise there, of course!) Here is a list of all the Easter train books for kids we've been able to get our hands on. ...
Cherry Blossom Tunnel: Spring Outdoor Activity for Kids
We planted a flowering cherry tree in our backyard when we bought our house several years ago. Somehow, when we weren't looking, it grew into a towering, graceful friend who gives us much needed shade and privacy all summer long. It's easy to forget about the tree in the winter, with it's long ...
Valentine Counting Activity with Thomas and Friends
When the Little Engineer and I adapted Valentine's Day in Vicarstown into a storytelling wooden train layout, we read the book several times in the process. So when I started to set up this valentine counting activity based on the same book, the Little Engineer knew exactly what we were doing -- ...
Valentine’s Day in Vicarstown: Book Review and Wooden Train Layout
The Little Engineer and I enjoy taking what we read and acting it out in play. Often, this means playing it out with our wooden trains. (Big shock, I know.) I think there's a lot to be learned from adapting a book to another form of storytelling. Also, we're hoping the photos of our layout might be ...
Snow for Wooden Train Layouts
Of all the kinds of scenery we've come up with to decorate our wooden train layouts, my favorite is most definitely snow. Not only is it pretty, but it's also interactive: trains can plow through the snow on the tracks, or haul it around in freight cars. It also is perfect for inspiring new story ...
Felt Valentine Train Play Set — Valentine’s Day Craft
The Little Engineer and I have had a lot of fun with felt trains in the past. I'll do a more complete tutorial on our super easy Thomas & Friends set in the future, but this felt valentine train is just as fun, if not more so. I love playing with it because the colors are so striking and ...
Wooden Train Ski Jump — Winter Olympics Activities for Kids
I kept my first two activities for the Winter Play Days series intentionally simple because I knew I was gearing up for something epic: wooden train ski jumping in honor of the Winter Olympics! This one activity has caused a huge surge in the Little Engineer's interest in the Olympics, winter ...
Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains
For our first post for the Winter Play Days series, we took our trains out to play in real snow. Today's play idea is a way to echo that experience any time of the year with pretend snow for a fun sensory activity with a little science thrown in. I'll share a few tips for using pretend snow with toy ...
Thomas Gets a Snowplow: Wooden Train Book Activity for Kids
I'm glad that there are a few children's books about trains in the snow that focus on winter rather than the holidays. Not that the Little Engineer minds reading books out of season, but it's nice that there are a few stories that are set in winter without Christmas coming into the picture. Thomas ...
Winter Train Play in the Snow
Here we are at the beginning of another fun series of seasonal play ideas: Winter Play Days! This week, we're teaming up with Fun-a-Day!, Fantastic Fun and Learning, Nothing if Not Intentional, My Nearest and Dearest, and Buggy and Buddy to share some great winter activities for kids. For our first ...
Top DIY Train Projects for Kids 2013
I'm back with one last list of our most popular posts from 2013: our top DIY train projects for kids! Other than the stuffed animal engineer hats, these are all projects to make for or with kids for their wooden train sets. We've even used the mini light boxes with our wooden trains. Most of the ...
Train Engineer Snowman
Nothing is more magical than a child's first snowman. However, sometimes there's a way to make it just a bit more magical for that particular child. In the Little Engineer's case, that magic came in the form of an invitation that required no words to explain: a spare engineer's hat and a baby ...
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.