This DIY Angry Birds costume took a couple of nights' worth of work to finish, but it was worth it. Not only did it turn out to be pretty cute, but we'll be using it for pretend play well beyond Halloween. The best part is it combines two of the things my son loves. The Little Engineer and I have ...
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 ...
Spooky Pipe Cleaner Trees — Halloween Craft Tutorial
I love these spooky trees I came up with to go with the Little Engineer's wooden trains, so perfect for a Halloween train set or small world. While they're a little more complex than the evergreen pipe cleaner trees from last spring, they don't take too long to make, and they look so cool in our ...
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! ...
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 ...
Halloween Books for Kids Who Love Trains
Halloween is approaching! Even though my sweet tooth has faded over the years, I still love the costumes, the colors, the anticipation in the air. And, of course, I always enjoy sharing my favorite holidays with the Little Engineer. One of the best ways to do that is to snuggle up with a festive ...
Glowing Discovery Bottles — Fall Invitations to Play
We're back with our second activity in the Fall Invitations to Play series: glowing discovery bottles for fall! I'm thrilled to be partnering this week with four of my favorite bloggers, each of us sharing a play invitation idea every day this week. I'll be linking to their invitations for today at ...
Play Dough Pumpkin Patch Train — Fall Invitations to Play
I'm very excited to be part of a series of Fall Invitations to Play this week. Along with four of my blogger friends -- Ann from My Nearest and Dearest, Stephanie from Twodaloo, Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning, and Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy -- we'll be sharing five ways to invite kids to ...
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.