We're back with another great Halloween train activity: building a mountain railroad on a pumpkin. Well, two pumpkins, in our case. Once I started setting up the train tracks, we were having too much fun not to bring in the second pumpkin! ...
Building with Mini Light Boxes: Wooden Train Roller Coaster Tracks
The first time we used our DIY mini light boxes with wooden train tracks, the Little Engineer immediately saw the stacking potential (which I hadn't noticed yet). He put one light box on top of another and ran off to get our tallest ascending track to send a train rolling down from the top. We ...
Halloween Books for Kids Who Love Trains
Halloween is approaching! Even though my sweet tooth has faded over the years, I still love the costumes, the colors, the anticipation in the air. And, of course, I always enjoy sharing my favorite holidays with the Little Engineer. One of the best ways to do that is to snuggle up with a festive ...
Two Color Oil and Water Discovery Bottles
These vibrant oil and water discovery bottles contain no lamp oil, using all edible ingredients. This makes them a safe science activity for preschoolers to make on their own! We found some fun train-related things to include in our bottle, but you could make them with any (or no) theme in ...
Floating Word Discovery Bottles
I have two fun ideas for discovery bottles to share with you this week. This first one sprang out of the current theme at our house: words, words, words! Writing them. Reading them. Memorizing them. Making them up. Writing them some more. It's fascinating to watch -- well, except for when I'm wiping ...
Ice Train Play — Winter Fun for Any Season
Ice and snow have been a recurring theme in our train play, no matter the season. First we froze toy trains in ice and found many different ways to play with snow (real or pretend) and trains. This summer, we made a train out of ice and sent it whooshing around our deck. The logical next step was to ...
Learning About Trees with Wooden Train Tracks
As I was watching the Little Engineer buzz up and down today's special layout in his room, I realized we somehow managed to learn about art, biology, planning and executing a project, and gross and fine motor skills, all with a pile of wooden train tracks. If I hadn't already been excited about the ...
Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Ice Play
Ice is always nice to play with when it's hot outside. It can be as simple as what we did over the weekend, when I brought a pitcher of ice to the Little Engineer so he could have an ingredient besides water for play cooking in the kiddie pool. Thanks to my Pinterest addiction and all of the ...
Sand Tracks: Train Beach Activity Inspired by Peter’s Railway
Today, I have two things to share with you: a fun beach activity that combines creativity, science, and sensory play, and the inspiration for it, a great series of train books for kids of any age! From what I've seen, it can be difficult to find many books about trains that will appeal to ...
Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda and Vinegar Trains
Mixing baking soda and vinegar is a classic science activity for kids, and once you've tried it with your child, it's easy to understand why. It's hands-on, safe for young kids, and pretty amazing, especially for a child who has never experienced it before. Last year, I introduced one of the cool ...
Blowing Color Steam: Relaxation Technique for Children
This relaxation technique for children is based on Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson's recommendation of teaching anxious children to "blow colors" as a tool to calm themselves down. Please visit her wonderful blog, Seattle Mama Doc, to read Help Your Anxious Child: Blow Colors and watch the accompanying ...
8 Train Books For Summer Reading
When I set about making a list of train books for summer reading, at first I was stumped. There are lots of books about trains set in the winter, but not so many that are really about summertime itself. This is most likely because trains run in every season, in almost any weather. Outside of ...
Word Family Freight Yard: Reading Practice with Wooden Trains
Today I'm over at Train Up a Child, guest posting an activity I'm really excited about: Word Family Freight Yard! This is a great way to combine reading practice with train play. I've shared several fun variations, so you're sure to find an activity to match your little engineer's reading ...
DIY Board Book: Angry Bird Train, a Kid’s Favorite Things Mash-up
The Little Engineer and I started making books together at about the same time he began speaking in sentences. Sometimes I write down a particularly popular bedtime story I've come up with (usually with his help, because he likes to take over the story!). But I especially love to help him write ...
Exploring the Art of Steam Train, Dream Train (Part 2)
After we did this train art project, the Little Engineer and I were sitting in Snuffleupagus, our mammoth Japanese lace leaf maple tree. He just discovered this quiet, secret world this spring, and I'm grateful he invites me in with him to sit on the twisted, sturdy branches. Surrounded by ...
Train Reading Game: Railroad Word Crash
While I was taking photos for Word Family Freight Yard, my guest post on Train Up a Child, the Little Engineer was not entirely enthused about doing the activity. While we had happily played this train reading game together in the past, this time he wanted to use his regular wooden train freight, ...
Exploring the Art of Steam Train, Dream Train (Part 1)
While searching for train books on Amazon for the eight-hundred-and-seventy-sixth time, I spotted Steam Train, Dream Train. Just from the thumbnail, I was drawn in by the cover art. When I clicked to take a closer look, I knew why. It turned out Steam Train, Dream Train is the new book by ...
Puzzle Train Ticket Mix-up — Read & Play Trains
When I talk to the Little Engineer about how this is "our train blog," those are not just empty words. I try to involve him in every aspect of the blog that I can. When he looks over my shoulder and sees Google Analytics up on my browser, he asks, "How many people came to our train blog today?" ...
Angry Birds Space Letter and Word Crash with Thomas and Cranky
One of our favorite elements to add to train play is light. We have a tub full of various LED lights to play "Night Train" with, and I'll have to tell you all about them another time. Today, we have something a little more...epic to play. It started when I came across Caution! Twins at Play's ...
“Dice Cars”: the Little Engineer’s Favorite Train Math Game
I have this theory that trains can be used to teach any subject. This seems especially true for math. I keep thinking up new train math games myself, finding new commercial train games with a math element, and running into new ideas online. But there is one and only one train math game that has ...
Rescuing Toy Trains from Ice
I can't think of a better motivator for a little train lover to put on a thinking cap than to see a collection of toy trains, trapped in ice and in desperate need of rescue. Especially if the toy trains are new, never-before-seen ones, like they were for the Little Engineer when we did this last ...
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.