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Painting with Trains: a Kid-made Thomas the Tank Engine Candy Cane Christmas Ornament

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 ...

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Book-inspired Valentine Counting Activity with Thomas & Friends from Play Trains!

Valentine Counting Activity with Thomas and Friends

When the Little Engineer and I adapted Valentine's Day in Vicarstown into a storytelling wooden train layout, we read the book several times in the process.  So when I started to set up this valentine counting activity based on the same book, the Little Engineer knew exactly what we were doing -- ...

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Valentine's Day in Vicarstown: a book-inspired wooden train activity from Play Trains!

Valentine’s Day in Vicarstown: Book Review and Wooden Train Layout

The Little Engineer and I enjoy taking what we read and acting it out in play. Often, this means playing it out with our wooden trains. (Big shock, I know.) I think there's a lot to be learned from adapting a book to another form of storytelling. Also, we're hoping the photos of our layout might be ...

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Train Valentines from Play Trains! Includes Thomas & Friends, Dinosaur Train, and steam engine cards. Lots of free printable valentines, too!

Train Valentines

Looking for train valentines for your little engineer to hand out? I had a hard time getting train valentines the first year I looked for them, so I tracked down as many as I possibly could to share here. Here are some great train Valentine's Day cards available online, and a list of free printable ...

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Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains from Play Trains!

Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains

For our first post for the Winter Play Days series, we took our trains out to play in real snow. Today's play idea is a way to echo that experience any time of the year with pretend snow for a fun sensory activity with a little science thrown in. I'll share a few tips for using pretend snow with toy ...

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Thomas Gets a Snowplow: Train Book Review and Play Ideas from Play Trains!

Thomas Gets a Snowplow: Wooden Train Book Activity for Kids

I'm glad that there are a few children's books about trains in the snow that focus on winter rather than the holidays.  Not that the Little Engineer minds reading books out of season, but it's nice that there are a few stories that are set in winter without Christmas coming into the picture. Thomas ...

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Marble Run Train Play: Quarry Cargo Drop from Play Trains!

Marble Run Train Play: Quarry Cargo Drop

One of our favorite ways to keep train play interesting is to combine our wooden trains with building toys. I've been wanting to incorporate our marble run into a train layout for a long time, and -- finally! -- we set aside an afternoon to figure it out. After learning through trial and error, the ...

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Play Dough Train Set from Play Trains! put together a train-making set for kids with play dough and Duplo bricks.

Play Dough Train Set

This activity started from a simple question: "Mama, do they make Play-Doh train sets?" We did a quick search on the internet to confirm that no, Play-Doh didn't have a train-making set. Disappointment was just starting to set in when I suggested, "Why don't we make our own play dough train set?" ...

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DIY Castle for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com An inexpensive craft perfect for playing out the new Thomas & Friends movie, King of the Railway!

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 ...

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DIY removable Troublesome Truck faces for wooden trains. Any Thomas the Tank Engine fan would love this personality upgrade for these freight cars! Another fun DIY train project from Play Trains! http://play-trains.com

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. ...

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Wooden Luke from Blue Mountain Mystery

If you have a young train fan who's been waiting for their very own Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway version of Luke, there's good news:  he's finally available. In light of today's over-merchandized children's entertainment industry, I found it hard to believe that Blue Mountain Mystery, last ...

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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 ...

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A New Coat of Paint for Breakfast: James Eggs and Thomas Toast

One of the reasons I've come to love the Thomas engines is their colors.  There's a good variety, and they're bright and vivid without making my eyes hurt. The Little Engineer loves their colors even more than I do.  He even went through a phase when he would only wear plain-colored shirts.  They ...

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Thomas the Tank Engine Shirt for a Birthday Boy

The Little Engineer needed something to wear for his second birthday party. When he turned one, I had a cute but run-of-the-mill first birthday onesie lined up well in advance. But due to his getting opinionated about his wardrobe over the course of his second year of life, a week before his party I ...

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Our Latest Wooden Train Layout

Every few weeks, we disassemble the tracks that take up the majority of the open floor space in our living room, vacuum the play mats, and start anew.  The last time this happened, we got off to a bit of a false start.  I deemed my original plan too dangerous due to the likelihood that the Little ...

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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.

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

Building with Mini Light Boxes: Wooden Train Roller Coaster Tracks

Train Track Counting Activity and Busy Bag from Play Trains!

Train Track Counting Activity and Busy Bag

Tree Track: Learning About Trees with Wooden Train Tracks @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/ The Little Engineer, at 2.5 years old, was enthralled with the whole process for a good hour and a half, and learning about art, biology, and planning and executing a project the whole time! Based on the art installation, "Tree Track", by Christien Meindertsma.

Learning About Trees with Wooden Train Tracks

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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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Copyright © 2012 - 2018 by Jessica Petersen

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