Painting with trains or other toys with wheels is nothing new -- and this certainly wasn't the first time we did it -- but here's the Little Engineer's latest twist on it. His ideas led the project deeper into the realm of pretend play, and resulted in a pretty cool end product. Not that the ...
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 ...
Exploring the Possibilities of an Instant Foam Railroad
I remember having a lot of fun with expanding foam capsules like these when I was a kid, but I didn't expect to be surprised by them as an adult. Then again, lots of unexpected things happen with the Little Engineer around. I'm not sure if the designers intended it all of it or not, put there was ...
BIG ENGINE: Train Pretend Play on a BIG Scale
"Mama, Mama, Mama come and play Big Engine!" "Big Engine" is the Little Engineer's bed. When we picked the Kura bed out at Ikea almost a year and a half ago (can it be that long?), I didn't realize that it really was a train. Not that trains didn't influence us in choosing it; I had visions ...
Speed Up Routines with Tickets for Your Little Engineer
Every so often, I come up with an idea that works really well with the Little Engineer. And then things get better, and I phase the idea out (or, more accurately, I forget to do it because it's no longer necessary at the time). Which is just as well, because most of these ideas stop working so ...
Classical Train Music: Encouraging a Child’s Love of Music
Affiliate links are included below for your convenience. When the Little Engineer was tiny, the days turned into weeks, then months, and I never remembered to do some of the things I had planned to do with my baby. One of those was to surround him with the music we loved in the hope that he'd ...
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 ...
A New Coat of Paint for Breakfast: James Eggs and Thomas Toast
One of the reasons I've come to love the Thomas engines is their colors. There's a good variety, and they're bright and vivid without making my eyes hurt. The Little Engineer loves their colors even more than I do. He even went through a phase when he would only wear plain-colored shirts. They ...
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 ...
“Train Song” by Charlie Hope – Train Music for Children
When I heard the music accompanying the video below, "Train Song," I knew I had to track it down. I loved the simple but poetic lyrics and the way you can hear the train coming closer and closer through the song. And I especially loved how the joy in the chorus mixes with the mournful notes of a ...
Grass Tracks – an Outdoor, Active, and Imaginative Train Game
Every day, the Little Engineer wakes up with a plan for the day, a plan he strives to stick to. Generally, ninety-five percent of it is "play trains!" Play wooden trains indoors, that is. I know he really enjoys being outside--he's remapped his grandparents' entire backyard as the Island of ...
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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.