Every time I think I'm done creating new pipe cleaner trees for our train layouts, I think of another type of tree that seems impossible to make. And so I have to make it, of course! I thought it would be difficult to get these pipe cleaner palm trees to stand up, but they stand up on their own, no ...
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, ...
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 ...
Top 10 Summer Train Activities for Kids
This week, we're part of the second annual School's Out: a Top Ten Summer Blog Hop, a series in which kid bloggers share their top activities for summer learning. Last year, I wrote about my Top Ten Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer. This year, I decided to feature some of our ...
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 ...
Summer Pom Pom Tree
For our second post for the Summer Play Days series, I wanted to do a summer version of the pom pom tree activity we've been reinventing with the seasons. This can be presented as a fine motor invitation to play, incorporated into a wooden train layout or another kind of small world, or made into a ...
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 ...
Two Color Oil and Water Discovery Bottles
These vibrant oil and water discovery bottles contain no lamp oil, using all edible ingredients. This makes them a safe science activity for preschoolers to make on their own! We found some fun train-related things to include in our bottle, but you could make them with any (or no) theme in ...
Floating Word Discovery Bottles
I have two fun ideas for discovery bottles to share with you this week. This first one sprang out of the current theme at our house: words, words, words! Writing them. Reading them. Memorizing them. Making them up. Writing them some more. It's fascinating to watch -- well, except for when I'm wiping ...
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 ...
DIY Zoo Train Set for Wooden Trains
The Little Engineer has always loved having animal passengers for his trains, so it's no surprise that we jumped at the chance to make a zoo for his wooden trains as soon as we had the idea! This is by far our most ambitious DIY wooden train set project yet, but it was well worth the investment of a ...
Mini Lego Hogwarts Express: the Perfect Train for New Lego Builders
I was planning to wait a little longer before starting a "big kid" Lego collection for the Little Engineer. After all, his Duplo blocks are still fun for all of us! But over the last month, he became very interested in building with the handful of "teeny tiny" Lego we had at our house. ...
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 ...
Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda and Vinegar Trains
Mixing baking soda and vinegar is a classic science activity for kids, and once you've tried it with your child, it's easy to understand why. It's hands-on, safe for young kids, and pretty amazing, especially for a child who has never experienced it before. Last year, I introduced one of the cool ...
Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set
Safari Ltd. generously provided us with a Train Toob to try out. No positive review was required and all my opinions and observations are, as always, my own. When Safari Ltd. offered to send us a Train Toob, the Little Engineer was so excited I knew I had to do something special with it. I had ...
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 ...
Top 10 Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer
I'm excited to be joining 25+ other fantastic bloggers from the Kids Blogger Network this week to share our Top 10 Learning Lists for Summer. You can see the full list of topics at School's Out: a Top 10 Series by KBN, or follow along on the School's Out Pinterest Board. The Little Engineer's ...
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.