The unfinished surface of wooden train tracks makes an excellent canvas for all kinds of creativity! And ever since I found a new source for unpainted wooden train cars, I've been working on a number of different DIY train sets to share with you. This first one is the one I'm most excited to share ...
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 ...
Beautiful Kid-made Gifts: Painting with Trains on Ceramics
Painting with trains and other toy vehicles is an excellent process art activity for kids, one that we've enjoyed on many occasions. But what I think is even cooler about painting with toy trains is that the patterns left by the wheels can create beautiful kid-made gifts without putting pressure on ...
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 ...
DIY Outdoor Train Table: a Wooden Train Garden Railway
I'm always trying to think of ways to bring the Little Engineer's favorite indoor activities and toys outside. I've wanted to make a "train garden" on an outdoor train table for a long time now. But I was always put off by the thought of all the work it would be to design and build one. Until this ...
DIY Mini Beach Balls
In the midst of trying to get Epic Fun for Kids -- our new blog and YouTube channel -- up and running, I've been making preparations for the coolest summer wooden train layout ever. (At least, I'm hoping that's how it will turn out!) This week, I'm going to show you a couple of the DIY train layout ...
Toy Surfboard Craft for Kids
This surfboard craft for kids is a great way to bring favorite toys into water play. The Little Engineer had so much fun pretending his toys were really surfing! Plus there's a lot of hands-on science going on, as kids try to get the toys to stand up on their surfboards. It would also be fun to make ...
Four Seasons Tree Cups for Light Play
While we were creating and playing with the story cups we made for our light boxes, the Little Engineer particularly seemed to enjoy stacking two or three cups to make little scenes -- the sun cup over a blue sky cup, for example. That gave me the idea to make these stacking tree cups for light ...
Story Cups for Light Play
After I came up with our tiny trains and tracks for light play, I wanted to have some kind of scenery to add to our mini light box train layouts. At about the same time, I saw this wonderful post about Alphabet Cups on the Light Box over at The Imagination Tree. We had plenty of the little plastic ...
St. Patrick’s Day Freight for Wooden Trains
The Little Engineer and I started celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our trains by decorating a few engines and making some new freight. Here are several easy ideas for ways to incorporate the holiday into any kind of toy train play. ...
Easy DIY Valentine Freight for Wooden Trains
Here's one of my favorite things the Little Engineer and I came up with for the Valentine's Day in Vicarstown layout: DIY valentine freight to load into the Troublesome Trucks! I was just going for visual effect when I started on these easy-to-make felt hearts, but they have a nice, firm, and fuzzy ...
DIY Engineer Stripe Heart Pendants – Train Gifts
These paper clay heart pendants are really fun and -- surprisingly easy -- to make. I really enjoyed painting them with engineer stripes and other train-themed designs, including Thomas the Tank Engine himself. And the Little Engineer made his own version of the heart pendants, which he proudly gave ...
DIY Train Track Valentines
If you're looking for an unusual -- and unusually pretty -- train valentine for your child, these DIY train track valentines might be just the thing! And they're easy to make: all you need are cards (or thick paper) and markers. ...
Felt Valentine Train Play Set — Valentine’s Day Craft
The Little Engineer and I have had a lot of fun with felt trains in the past. I'll do a more complete tutorial on our super easy Thomas & Friends set in the future, but this felt valentine train is just as fun, if not more so. I love playing with it because the colors are so striking and ...
Top DIY Train Projects for Kids 2013
I'm back with one last list of our most popular posts from 2013: our top DIY train projects for kids! Other than the stuffed animal engineer hats, these are all projects to make for or with kids for their wooden train sets. We've even used the mini light boxes with our wooden trains. Most of the ...
DIY Angry Birds Costume: Engineer Blue Bird Mask and Wings
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 ...
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 ...
DIY Wooden Toy Castles for Trains — Thomas & Friends King of the Railway
These DIY wooden toy castles look fantastic with our wooden train tracks, but they were so easy -- and inexpensive! -- to make. This is a fun project to do with a child, teaching them about measurement along the way, or to give as a gift to round out a train collection with a unique piece. And ...
DIY Troublesome Truck Face Stickers for Wooden Trains
So easy to make, these DIY face stickers for Troublesome Trucks are a great way to add some personality to a child's wooden trains. ...
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 ...
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.