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Top Train Crafts for Kids 2013

I had so much fun putting the Top Train Activities for Kids 2013 post together I decided not to stop there. Here are our top 10 train craft posts from the past year, with ideas that will suit every child: toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, and up! Many of these crafts can be made by kids ...

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Christmas Fine Motor Activity: Light Up Pipe Cleaner Christmas Tree for Small Worlds from Play Trains!

Light-up Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees for Small Worlds

Here's a cute light-up variation on our pipe cleaner Christmas trees. It makes a fun fine motor activity, especially if you have a train pulling the holiday lights to decorate the trees. It's a festive way to bring light play to your train sets and other small worlds! ...

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Pipe Cleaner Trees Christmas Craft for Train Sets and Small Worlds from Play Trains!

DIY Pipe Cleaner Trees Christmas Craft

For months now, I've been looking forward to doing a Christmas version of the pipe cleaner trees we made for our train set. Well, here they are, and I enjoyed making them even more than I expected! These could work as a kids' Christmas craft -- either with the child making the trees themselves (the ...

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Fall Pom Pom Tree -- a fine motor activity for autumn from Play Trains!

Fall Pom Pom Tree — Fine Motor Activity

This fall pom pom tree activity is as pretty as it is fun! I think it could even work as a combination kids' activity and centerpiece at Thanksgiving dinner. My favorite part is the acorns -- they look so cool in the tree, plus they add so much to activity by presenting an added challenge to fine ...

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Dress Up Costumes for Toy Trains from Play Trains! A fun way to decorate wooden trains (or other toy trains) without damaging them.

Dress Up Costumes for Wooden Trains

Whether for Halloween or an afternoon of pretend play, kids love dressing up. When the Little Engineer extended the need for costumes to his stuffed animals, I thought, why should they have all the fun? So I figured out a way to make dress up costumes for his wooden trains as well. It's a fun, ...

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Quick and Easy Halloween Train Layout Ideas from Play Trains!

Quick and Easy Halloween Train Layout Ideas

The Little Engineer and I love playing out holidays with our trains. This is our second year making a Halloween train layout, and we had a lot of fun building on what we did last year. Here are several simple ideas to celebrate Halloween at the train table. ...

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Halloween Carnival Pom Pom Tree Play from Play Trains! Includes both a simple invitation to play and a train play activity.

Halloween Carnival Pom Pom Trees Invitation to Play

Our final activity for the Halloween Invitations to Play series is an invitation to create and play with pom pom trees in Halloween carnival colors. I loved this one so much that I ended up doing both simple and train play versions of it. And with the addition of glue, it could easily be a pom pom ...

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Spooky Pipe Cleaner Trees for Halloween Small Worlds and Train Sets from Play Trains!

Spooky Pipe Cleaner Trees — Halloween Craft Tutorial

I love these spooky trees I came up with to go with the Little Engineer's wooden trains, so perfect for a Halloween train set or small world. While they're a little more complex than the evergreen pipe cleaner trees from last spring, they don't take too long to make, and they look so cool in our ...

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Play Dough Train Set from Play Trains! put together a train-making set for kids with play dough and Duplo bricks.

Play Dough Train Set

This activity started from a simple question: "Mama, do they make Play-Doh train sets?" We did a quick search on the internet to confirm that no, Play-Doh didn't have a train-making set. Disappointment was just starting to set in when I suggested, "Why don't we make our own play dough train set?" ...

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Trains and Tracks for Light Boxes and Light Tables from Play Trains!

Trains and Tracks for Light Boxes and Light Tables

A tiny light box needs a tiny train set to go with it, right? Once I came up with a way to make our own mini light box, I was on a mission to find trains that would work with light boxes or light tables. Especially small ones, given that was what we had. I came up with this tiny, translucent train ...

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DIY Castle for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com An inexpensive craft perfect for playing out the new Thomas & Friends movie, King of the Railway!

DIY Wooden Toy Castles for Trains — Thomas & Friends King of the Railway

These DIY wooden toy castles look fantastic with our wooden train tracks, but they were so easy -- and inexpensive! -- to make. This is a fun project to do with a child, teaching them about measurement along the way, or to give as a gift to round out a train collection with a unique piece. And ...

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Squirrel Train Small World from Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/

Squirrel Train Small World — Fall Invitations to Play

Our third Fall Invitation to Play in the series is a squirrel train small world sure to delight any child who loves both woodland animals and trains! The Little Engineer was so excited to play Squirrel Train, and it turned into a creative, relaxing play experience for both of us. Make sure to ...

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Fall Invitations to Play: Play Dough Pumpkin Patch Train from Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/

Play Dough Pumpkin Patch Train — Fall Invitations to Play

I'm very excited to be part of a series of Fall Invitations to Play this week. Along with four of my blogger friends -- Ann from My Nearest and Dearest, Stephanie from Twodaloo, Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning, and Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy -- we'll be sharing five ways to invite kids to ...

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DIY Mini Lightsabers @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/diy-mini-lightsabers-kids-craft/ A quick and easy kids' craft, these lightsabers are perfect for Star Wars birthday parties, stuffed animal movie reenactments, or simply waving around and making VWOOOM, VWOOOM sounds.

DIY Mini Lightsabers — Star Wars Kids’ Craft

We've given our trains the day off to share another one of our favorite things to play with: DIY mini lightsabers that light up! It's so fun to swish these around in a darkened room, making VWOOOM, VWOOOM sounds. And they're the perfect size for stuffed animal movie reenactments. This kids' craft is ...

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DIY removable Troublesome Truck faces for wooden trains. Any Thomas the Tank Engine fan would love this personality upgrade for these freight cars! Another fun DIY train project from Play Trains! http://play-trains.com

DIY Troublesome Truck Face Stickers for Wooden Trains

So easy to make, these DIY face stickers for Troublesome Trucks are a great way to add some personality to a child's wooden trains. ...

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Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Late Summer @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/

Toy Train Freight from Nature: Late Summer

Warm breezes, blue skies, and -- most importantly -- dry ground: there's no better time to take toy trains outside to play in Seattle than the second half of summer. It's also the best time of year for incorporating objects from nature into train play. There's an abundance of things growing that can ...

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DIY Zoo Set for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! Our train twist on the Jungle Diorama from Jo-ann's Cape Discovery summer crafting challenge. #summerofjoann

DIY Zoo Train Set for Wooden Trains

The Little Engineer has always loved having animal passengers for his trains, so it's no surprise that we jumped at the chance to make a zoo for his wooden trains as soon as we had the idea! This is by far our most ambitious DIY wooden train set project yet, but it was well worth the investment of a ...

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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

Safari Ltd. generously provided us with a Train Toob to try out. No positive review was required and all my opinions and observations are, as always, my own. When Safari Ltd. offered to send us a Train Toob, the Little Engineer was so excited I knew I had to do something special with it.  I had ...

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Waterproof Play Pictures: Flower Train @ Play Trains! How to make photo play pieces for water play and messy play, plus a little parenting wisdom gained along the way.

Waterproof Play Pictures: Flower Train

When I made these laminated train pieces, I wasn't planning to incorporate them in water play. But now that we've happened upon that use for them, I can't wait to make more!  These waterproof play pictures are great for both bath time and all kinds of water or messy play. Next time, though, I'm ...

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Pool Noodle Train Tracks: Summer Train Fun for Kids @ Play Trains! Kids can build these train tracks, then add a sprinkler to cool off in an "engine wash."

Summer Fun for Kids: Pool Noodle Train Tracks

The sunshine that keeps breaking through our familiar Seattle clouds has been putting thoughts of summer fun in my head.  At the same time, the lure of playing wooden trains is hard for the Little Engineer to resist. We often take the trains outside and play with them on a picnic mat in the ...

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Pipe Cleaner Trees for Wooden Train Layouts @ Play Trains! Another DIY element we've come up with to add to our toy train set.

Pipe Cleaner Trees for Wooden Train Layouts

Trees are a classic component of wooden toy train sets.  But as much as I love the cute little wooden trees we've collected, most of them are barely three-dimensional, just a simplified outline of a tree given enough depth to stand up.  Generally painted a single shade of green, there's no texture ...

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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.

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Copyright © 2012 - 2018 by Jessica Petersen

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