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Wooden Train Track Stacking with Vegetables -- a fun way to get little engineers interested in veggies!

Wooden Track Veggie Stack: a Wooden Train Activity

What do you do when you want to introduce your children to all the wonderful things that the world has to offer, but all they want to do is play trains? You bring the world to the train set! If anything has ever exemplified this philosophy of mine, it's this wooden train track and toy vegetable ...

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Autumn Zoo Train Play from Play Trains!

Autumn Zoo Train Play

Looking through photos from last year, I found this fun fall-themed zoo train activity. The Little Engineer and I came up with it by combining the loose parts from our October Moon Train Play activity with our DIY Zoo Train Set. I thought it was a great way to show how the activities we share and ...

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The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide -- Freight Cars

Wooden Train Freight Cars — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide

One of the most common questions I get is, "Where do you find all of the freight cars for your wooden trains?" And it's no wonder, because many of our wooden train activities make use of freight cars to hold seasonal objects, sensory and learning materials, and other fun stuff. Here, I'll answer the ...

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Fourth of July Wooden Train Play from Play Trains!

Fourth of July Wooden Train Play

Happy Fourth of July! As I type this, I'm listening to the fireworks that (still) boom and crackle around our neighborhood. But at least the Little Engineer is finally asleep, instead of running around our backyard in the dark with giant glow stick rings, throwing them in the air and shouting, ...

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Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

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 ...

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Easy Easter Freight and Bunny Ears for Wooden Trains from Play Trains!

Easter Train Freight and Easy Bunny Ears for Wooden Trains

Bringing holidays and season into train play is always a fun way to renew interest in the trains and learn about these special times of year at the same time. Here's a big list of fun ideas for an Easter train layout, plus a super easy way to make bunny ears for the trains to wear -- without ...

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St. Patrick's Day Freight and Decorations for Wooden Trains from Play Trains!

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. ...

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Easy DIY Felt Hearts: fun Valentine's Day freight for wooden trains from Play Trains!

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 ...

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Ice Train Play @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/ice-train-play/

Ice Train Play — Winter Fun for Any Season

Ice and snow have been a recurring theme in our train play, no matter the season. First we froze toy trains in ice and found many different ways to play with snow (real or pretend) and trains. This summer, we made a train out of ice and sent it whooshing around our deck. The logical next step was to ...

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Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Late Summer @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/

Toy Train Freight from Nature: Late Summer

Warm breezes, blue skies, and -- most importantly -- dry ground: there's no better time to take toy trains outside to play in Seattle than the second half of summer. It's also the best time of year for incorporating objects from nature into train play. There's an abundance of things growing that can ...

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Cut the Rope + Wooden Trains = the Candy Train!

The Little Engineer loves Cut the Rope. Months ago, before he figured it out himself, he used to watch Dada play. When the candy would fall off the screen instead of into the adorable green monster's mouth, he'd make Om Nom's sad noise and do a sign he made up that combined the signs for "cry" and ...

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Jessica Petersen, author of Old Tracks, New Tricks
Hi, I'm Jessica! We're so happy you've climbed aboard the Play Trains! express. Next stop: a trainload of fun and learning for your little engineer!

Our Book!

The Play Trains! Guide to Wooden Train Sets: expert advice on the best wooden train set to buy for your little engineer.

The Play Trains! Guide to the Best Wooden Train Sets 2021

The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide -- Wooden Train Track: expert advice and product recommendations

Wooden Train Tracks — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide

The Play Trains Ultimate Wooden Train Guide: The Best Wooden Train Tables for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Best Train Tables — The Ultimate Wooden Train Guide

Copyright

Copyright © 2012 - 2023 Jessica Petersen, All Rights Reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Disclosure

Some product links on this site are affiliate links for products we think are worth checking out. The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and the Lego Brand Retail Affiliate Program. Read our the rest of our disclosure policy here.
Train Track Counting Activity and Busy Bag from Play Trains!

Train Track Counting Activity and Busy Bag

Building with Mini Light Boxes: Roller Coaster Tracks for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains!

Building with Mini Light Boxes: Wooden Train Roller Coaster Tracks

Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set @ Play Trains! Come see how big the Little Engineer grinned the first time he put together this DIY train set you can take along to play anywhere!

Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set

Our Train Videos on YouTube

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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Recent Posts

  • Best Train Sets for Toddlers
  • The Play Trains! Guide to the Best Wooden Train Sets 2021
  • The Best Battery-Powered Wooden Trains
  • Wooden Track Veggie Stack: a Wooden Train Activity
  • 55+ Creative Train Gift Ideas for Kids that Will Make You a Hero

Copyright © 2012 - 2018 by Jessica Petersen