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 ...
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, ...
Playing Along with Blue Mountain Mystery
If you've read my other posts, you may have noticed that the Little Engineer and I enjoy playing out stories from the books we read. The same goes for videos and games. The Little Engineer doesn't ask to watch a lot of TV, and while he loves certain games on our iPad, he generally prefers to play ...
Dryer Sheet Box Engine Shed (Wooden Train Kids’ Craft)
When I'm asked for advice on beginning a wooden train collection, one of my first recommendations is an engine shed. From the earliest days of his train obsession, the Little Engineer has always loved sheds and roundhouses. The appeal is easy to understand. In addition to the easy-to-relate-to ...
“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 ...
Organizing Wooden Trains and Track — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
I had a question over on the Play Trains! Facebook page as to how we store our trains. I had taken a few photos of our system a while back, intending to eventually post them, but this gave me the nudge I needed to take a couple more pictures get this up. By far, my favorite way to store our ...
Damage-Free Decorating for Wooden Train Layouts
In my post about our Valentine's Day in Vicarstown train layout yesterday, I promised I'd share my secret way to stick things to our wooden trains and buildings without worrying about ruining them. Well, it's not my secret, really. My husband showed me how to do it. Originally, he came up with ...
wTrak: the Coolest Train Tables Ever
If you live near Seattle, you can see and play with this train table at the United Northwest Model Railroad Club's annual model railroad show coming up this coming weekend, February 2nd and 3rd, 2013. There's nothing quite as exciting as seeing something you know will thrill someone you love ...
Engine Paint Shop — Train Color Matching Activity for Preschoolers
One of my son's favorite things about trains are their "coats of paint." Along with wearing solid-color shirts as coats of paint that let him become an engine of that color, he especially loves pretending to paint his wooden trains, or Big Engine (his bed). Knowing this came in handy the last time ...
Our Latest Wooden Train Layout
Every few weeks, we disassemble the tracks that take up the majority of the open floor space in our living room, vacuum the play mats, and start anew. The last time this happened, we got off to a bit of a false start. I deemed my original plan too dangerous due to the likelihood that the Little ...
Cut the Rope + Wooden Trains = the Candy Train!
The Little Engineer loves Cut the Rope. Months ago, before he figured it out himself, he used to watch Dada play. When the candy would fall off the screen instead of into the adorable green monster's mouth, he'd make Om Nom's sad noise and do a sign he made up that combined the signs for "cry" and ...
The Perfect Wooden Train Play Rug
Ikea has a new Woodland theme for children's bedroom textiles this year, and the play rug is perfect for wooden train layouts. The VANDRING SPÅR rug depicts a woodland stream and the banks on either side of it. Underneath a wooden track layout--particularly if you span it with bridges--the ...
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.