I really like the idea of gardening. But not so much the, you know, work. Actually, it's mostly the idea of the work that I don't like, because like most things in life -- making birthday cakes, writing, getting on with the bedtime routine -- it's not so bad once I get going. Last year, I ...
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?" ...
12 Tips for a Magical Day Out With Thomas
If you don't believe in magic, then perhaps you haven't taken a young, train-loving child to Day Out With Thomas. I urge you to do whatever you can to get to one of these events if you have the opportunity to go. If the day goes well -- and hopefully my list of tips below will help make that ...
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 ...
Light Play: Glow Tracks and Angry Bird “Costumes”
While life with a three-year-old can be unpredictable, there are a few reactions I can count on when it comes to the Little Engineer. One of those constants is that if he finds a collection of long, straight objects, he will build railroad tracks. I spotted these glow necklaces on clearance at ...
Coal & Water Steam Engine Sensory Bin
While we've done plenty of sensory activities at our house over the past three years, I haven't put together too many sensory bins. I think the first couple I tried after reading about them fell flat with the Little Engineer, and we didn't do another for a long time. Last year, I bought this ...
DIY Felt Engineer Hats for Stuffed Animals
A year and a half ago, the Little Engineer developed a fascination with meerkats within the space of one episode of Curious George. Soon thereafter, we took him to the Woodland Park Zoo for their Halloween festivities, and he had one and only one animal on his to-visit list: the "meekats", as he ...
Video: a Kid’s Day at a Model Railroad Show
Hey look, it's our first YouTube video! Follow the Little Engineer through a day at his favorite train show, the Pacific Science Center's Model Railroad Show. I edited this with kids who enjoy watching videos of other kids playing trains in mind...I know I don't have the only one! Check out ...
Monorail Ticket Booth Pretend Play
Even before we went on our play date with the Seattle Center Monorail, the Little Engineer had started playing a monorail version of Big Engine, his game where we pretend his bed is a locomotive. As usual, one of his favorite parts to play was the ticket booth. So when I saw all the cool stuff ...
Paper Engineer’s Hat Craft for Kids
This is a great way for kids to show their affection for their favorite stuffed animals, especially if their plush friends like to play trains with them! The idea came to me while creating a pattern for the felt engineer hats I've been sewing for some very special stuffed animals. At the time, ...
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 ...
Toddler Train Track @ IKEA
If you're anything like me, you'll look at this picture and see a aid for visualizing the shape and size of rugs. At least, that's how I used to see this sight every time I pushed the cart through IKEA. Fortunately, I have the Little Engineer around to see things with different eyes. Eyes that ...
Our Play Date at the Seattle Monorail
We had been inside the Seattle Monorail's Red Train for five or ten minutes already when it seemed to sink in for the Little Engineer. He picked up his best buddy, Meekat, from where the he had been sitting next to Monorail Bunny on a seat and lifted the meerkat above his head, beaming upward in ...
“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 ...
Assembling and Painting Wooden Trains with My Toddler
Here's another fun thing we picked up at the Northwest Railway Museum's gift shop last July, along with the Instant Foam Railroad I wrote about before. These are the Made By Me! Train Engine, Passenger Coach, and Caboose by Maple Landmark, an American company that makes high-quality, classic ...
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 ...
Painting with Trains on Canvas
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 ...
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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.