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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
Monorail Ticket Booth Pretend Play
Even before we went on our play date with the Seattle Center Monorail, the Little Engineer had started playing a monorail version of Big Engine, his game where we pretend his bed is a locomotive. As usual, one of his favorite parts to play was the ticket booth. So when I saw all the cool stuff ...
Exploring the Possibilities of an Instant Foam Railroad
I remember having a lot of fun with expanding foam capsules like these when I was a kid, but I didn't expect to be surprised by them as an adult. Then again, lots of unexpected things happen with the Little Engineer around. I'm not sure if the designers intended it all of it or not, put there was ...
BIG ENGINE: Train Pretend Play on a BIG Scale
"Mama, Mama, Mama come and play Big Engine!" "Big Engine" is the Little Engineer's bed. When we picked the Kura bed out at Ikea almost a year and a half ago (can it be that long?), I didn't realize that it really was a train. Not that trains didn't influence us in choosing it; I had visions ...
Speed Up Routines with Tickets for Your Little Engineer
Every so often, I come up with an idea that works really well with the Little Engineer. And then things get better, and I phase the idea out (or, more accurately, I forget to do it because it's no longer necessary at the time). Which is just as well, because most of these ideas stop working so ...
Classical Train Music: Encouraging a Child’s Love of Music
Affiliate links are included below for your convenience. When the Little Engineer was tiny, the days turned into weeks, then months, and I never remembered to do some of the things I had planned to do with my baby. One of those was to surround him with the music we loved in the hope that he'd ...
Engine Paint Shop — Train Color Matching Activity for Preschoolers
One of my son's favorite things about trains are their "coats of paint." Along with wearing solid-color shirts as coats of paint that let him become an engine of that color, he especially loves pretending to paint his wooden trains, or Big Engine (his bed). Knowing this came in handy the last time ...
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.