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 ...
Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit
When we got home playing at the beach with our kid-customized mini sand play set, I realized that the core part of the set could make an even smaller mini sand castle kit. Of course I had to try it immediately! Fortunately, we have a sandbox, so we didn't have to wait. This little sand castle kit is ...
Mini Sand Play Set
The Little Engineer loves playing the sand no matter what, but he loves it even more when we have some sort of grand plan involving his favorite things. The railroad we built in the sand after reading the Peter's Railway books last year was a plan like that, one that he remembers and has asked to do ...
Winter Train Play in the Snow
Here we are at the beginning of another fun series of seasonal play ideas: Winter Play Days! This week, we're teaming up with Fun-a-Day!, Fantastic Fun and Learning, Nothing if Not Intentional, My Nearest and Dearest, and Buggy and Buddy to share some great winter activities for kids. For our first ...
Train Engineer Snowman
Nothing is more magical than a child's first snowman. However, sometimes there's a way to make it just a bit more magical for that particular child. In the Little Engineer's case, that magic came in the form of an invitation that required no words to explain: a spare engineer's hat and a baby ...
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 ...
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 ...
Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Ice Play
Ice is always nice to play with when it's hot outside. It can be as simple as what we did over the weekend, when I brought a pitcher of ice to the Little Engineer so he could have an ingredient besides water for play cooking in the kiddie pool. Thanks to my Pinterest addiction and all of the ...
Sand Tracks: Train Beach Activity Inspired by Peter’s Railway
Today, I have two things to share with you: a fun beach activity that combines creativity, science, and sensory play, and the inspiration for it, a great series of train books for kids of any age! From what I've seen, it can be difficult to find many books about trains that will appeal to ...
Summer Fun for Kids: Pool Noodle Train Tracks
The sunshine that keeps breaking through our familiar Seattle clouds has been putting thoughts of summer fun in my head. At the same time, the lure of playing wooden trains is hard for the Little Engineer to resist. We often take the trains outside and play with them on a picnic mat in the ...
Snow Trains: Seven Ideas for Bringing Snow into Train Play
We haven't gotten any snow yet this year, much to the Little Engineer's disappointment. But that hasn't stopped us from playing trains in the snow all winter. We've combined snow and trains in our play off and on through every season. It's always a popular element. It taps into one of the ...
Grass Tracks – an Outdoor, Active, and Imaginative Train Game
Every day, the Little Engineer wakes up with a plan for the day, a plan he strives to stick to. Generally, ninety-five percent of it is "play trains!" Play wooden trains indoors, that is. I know he really enjoys being outside--he's remapped his grandparents' entire backyard as the Island of ...
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.