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DIY wooden train track Christmas ornaments inspired by OLD TRACKS, NEW TRICKS by Jessica Petersen. The decorations are temporary so the tracks can go back to the train set after the holidays!

Book-Inspired Wooden Train Track Christmas Ornament

Today I'm going to show you how kids can make their own wooden train track Christmas ornaments, inspired by my upcoming picture book, Old Tracks, New Tricks. The best part is that the decorations are temporary, which means the tracks can go back to the train set when the holidays are over! ...

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Thomas MINIS Advent Calendar Video Playdates from Play Trains!

Thomas MINIS Advent Calendar Video Playdates

Come play with the Little Engineer! While our jumping off point for this series of video playdates is a Thomas MINIS advent calendar, our hope is to inspire a fun, creative play session with your child's favorite trains, plus some simple items or toys you probably already have around the house. ...

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Jingle Bell and Candy Cane Pipe Cleaner Tree Craft from Play Trains!

Jingle Bell Candy Cane Tree Craft

Once I finally figured out how to make a pipe cleaner palm tree -- the final "real" tree on my list of pipe cleaner tree ideas -- I thought I'd be rid of the urge to make trees out of pipe cleaners and pom poms. However, it seems my freedom from this accidental obsession is still out of reach. I ...

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Jingle Bell Coupling Chains for Wooden Trains: a fun, hands-on science exploration for Christmas or any time of year from Play Trains!

Jingle Bell Coupling Chains for Wooden Trains

Here's a jingle bell train activity we did last year, but I never managed to write about the photos -- which means I've been looking forward to posting this for twelve months now! My son has always been very interested in couplers and coupling chains. For a long time, when I'd want him to hold my ...

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Jingle Trains: how to temporarily turn wooden trains into wooden train jingle bell shakers! Fun for ringing along with Christmas carols or for music activities all year long. http://play-trains.com/

Wooden Train Jingle Bell Shakers

We love experimenting with adding other sensory elements to wooden train play. Adding sounds to our trains always is especially fun, and these wooden train jingle bell shakers are no exception. This is the perfect way to get child who loves trains involved in making music, whether that's Christmas ...

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Painting with Trains: a Kid-made Thomas the Tank Engine Candy Cane Christmas Ornament

Painting with Trains: Thomas the Tank Engine Candy Cane Ornament

I'm so happy to be participating in Mama Miss' 10 Days of a Kid-Made Christmas series for the second year in a row! This year, the theme is Ornaments Inspired by Children's Books, and 70+ bloggers are each coming up with an ornament for a different children's book. We decided to stay true to our ...

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Christmas Train Books for Kids: a big list of holiday books for children who love trains, including suggestions for festive train activities to accompany the books!

Christmas Train Books for Kids

If there's one type of train books for kids I've delighted in collecting more than the others, it's been Christmas train books. I've been looking forward to sharing this list of holiday books for young railroad enthusiasts for a long time, and here it is. I've also included suggested activities for ...

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Train Advent Calendar Gifts: tiny toy trains and small train gifts to fill your little engineer's advent calendar.

Train Advent Calendar Gifts

When the Little Engineer was three years old, I had so much fun filling his advent calendar with train-themed advent calendar gifts. If you're looking for train gifts for your child's advent calendar, here is a big list of options for tiny train treasures: small Thomas & Friends trains, little ...

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Train Advent Calendar Gift Tags: free printable train-themed, number gift tags in two different color schemes: Festive Train Colors and Thomas & Friends Engine Colors

Printable Train Advent Calendar Gift Tags

Here are some fun train gift tags for DIY advent calendars! I made them in two different color schemes -- Festive Train colors and Thomas & Friends Engine colors -- so that these trains can count down to Christmas for Thomas fans and regular train fans alike. Just download the free printable ...

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Coal-Black Chocolate Cupcakes for Christmas treats or train birthday parties from Play Trains!

Coal-Black Chocolate Cupcakes

These are the most chocolatey, moist, and delicious cupcakes I've ever made or tasted. But what makes them extra fun -- whether for a Christmas treat or a train-loving kid's birthday party -- is that thanks to the type of cocoa powder we used, they're as black as coal! ...

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Christmas Fine Motor Activity: Light Up Pipe Cleaner Christmas Tree for Small Worlds from Play Trains!

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! ...

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Pipe Cleaner Trees Christmas Craft for Train Sets and Small Worlds from Play Trains!

DIY Pipe Cleaner Trees Christmas Craft

For months now, I've been looking forward to doing a Christmas version of the pipe cleaner trees we made for our train set. Well, here they are, and I enjoyed making them even more than I expected! These could work as a kids' Christmas craft -- either with the child making the trees themselves (the ...

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Christmas Wooden Train Layout from Play Trains!

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 ...

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DIY Felt Train Ornament Kids Christmas Craft from Play Trains!

Kid-Made Felt Train Ornament

I let the Little Engineer pick what we'd do for our contribution to Mama Miss' 20 Days of a Kid Made Christmas: Ornaments series. Of all the ideas I suggested to him, he was most excited by the idea of making a felt train ornament, so that's what we're doing today! This is an easy craft that kids ...

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Holiday Breakfast Train -- fun and yummy train play for Christmas morning, birthdays, or other special occasions from Play Trains!

Holiday Breakfast Train Activity for Kids

For our second activity for the Christmas Play Days series, we've put a train twist on a family tradition by putting our beloved holiday breakfast on a toy train. This is a fun Christmas morning activity that works just as well for birthdays (the photos of the activity are from the Little Engineer's ...

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Recycled Play Dough Molds from Play Trains! A great way to reuse toy packaging after Christmas or birthday presents are unwrapped.

Recycled Toy Packaging Play Dough Molds

Welcome to Christmas Play Days! Once again, I'm teaming up with some of my favorite creative women -- Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning, Rachael from Nothing if Not Intentional, Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy, Mary Catherine from Fun-a-Day!, and Ann from My Nearest and Dearest  -- to share fun ...

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About Me

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.

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