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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Top Train Activities for Kids 2013
As 2013 comes to a close, it's been fun to look back on all the articles I've written for Play Trains! and see which ones were the most popular with you, our readers. I've loved hearing from many of you throughout the year as the fun we've had in our train adventures has inspired play time in homes ...
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! ...
Marble Run Train Play: Quarry Cargo Drop
One of our favorite ways to keep train play interesting is to combine our wooden trains with building toys. I've been wanting to incorporate our marble run into a train layout for a long time, and -- finally! -- we set aside an afternoon to figure it out. After learning through trial and error, the ...
White Christmas Wooden Train Layout
For the final day of Christmas Play Days, I wanted to share a Christmas wooden train layout I surprised the Little Engineer with on his train table last year. I really enjoyed finding little toys around the house that helped set the scene and encourage imaginative play. And I always love adding any ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
Candy Train Game: Counting, Letter Recognition, and Reading Practice
The Little Engineer loves dark chocolate so much it's been very easy to convince him not to eat any other kinds of candy. During last year's round of trick-or-treating, I had to point out that we could use non-chocolate candies for craft projects. It was the only way that he would politely accept ...
Pumpkin Mountain Railroad Building — Halloween Train Activity
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 ...
October Moon Halloween Train Play
I'm really excited to be teaming up with my blogging buddies again for another round of invitations to play! This time, we're focusing on Halloween Invitations to Play. Our creative partners in fun are Mary Catherine from Fun-a-Day!, Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy, Stephanie from Twodaloo, Rachael ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.