Play Trains!

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright
  • Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
  • Gift Guides
  • Parents & Teachers
    • Parenting Little Engineers
    • Train Tips & Tricks
  • Play
    • Wooden Train Play
    • Trackmaster and Take’n’Play
    • Pretend Play
    • Sensory Play
      • Water Play
      • Light Play
    • Outdoor Activities
    • Fine Motor Activities
  • Learn
    • Literacy Activities with Trains
    • Science Activities with Trains
    • Math Activities with Trains
    • Engineering Activities with Trains
    • Music Activities with Trains
    • Social, Emotional, and Practical Skills
    • Cooking with Kids
  • Create
    • DIY Projects
      • Train Play Sets
      • Train Set Accessories
      • Train Set Scenery
      • DIY Wooden Train Sets
      • DIY Train Tables
      • Pipe Cleaner Trees
      • DIY Costumes and Clothes
    • Train Crafts for Kids
    • Train Art Activities
    • Kid-made Gifts
    • Upcycled Train Projects
  • by Age
    • Toddlers
    • Preschoolers
    • School-age Kids
  • by Stage
    • New to Trains
    • Train Obsessed
    • Making Trains Exciting Again
  • Through the Year
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
    • Holidays
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
    • Special Days
      • Birthdays
      • Day Out With Thomas
      • Train Shows and Exhibitions
  • Books

Top 10 Summer Train Activities for Kids

June 17, 2014 By Jessica Petersen 4 Comments

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 favorite summertime train activities. There are so many ways to learn and play with trains, especially in the summer when you can take train play outside! Top 10 Summer Train Activities for Kids from Play Trains!

1. Take train play to the beach.

Sand Tracks: Learning with Trains at the Beach @ Play Trains! This activity combines art, science, and sensory play, demonstrating one of the technical pages between chapters in the first book of the Peter's Railway series. These books are perfect for train-loving children of any age!

Combine creativity, science, and sensory play with the beauty of nature by building a driftwood railroad in the sand together to explore the concepts in a wonderful series of books, or by putting together a mini sand play set customized to your child’s interests.

2. Build a railroad in your backyard.

IMG_8767 Use pool noodles to build train tracks on the grass, then add a sprinkler for a cooling “engine wash” as your favorite little train runs along the tracks. This is a huge favorite with the Little Engineer! I love how this activity both appeals to his engineer’s brain and his love of running, and running, and running.

3. Take your trains surfing.

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains! These toy surfboards are a super fun kids’ craft (this adult really enjoyed making them, too). But the real fun starts when you add them to water play. There was a lot of hands-on science about buoyancy and waves going on as we splashed and laughed!

4. Play with trains and ice.

Ice Train 5 Explore the science of freezing and melting as you rescue toy trains from ice, play with colorful ice trains, or haul ice freight in toy trains.

5. Find freight for your toy trains in nature.

Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Late Summer @ Play Trains! http://play-trains.com/ Take the trains outside and find freight for them to carry in your backyard. Another activity that the Little Engineer really enjoyed — and not just because he got to eat the freight pictured above as it chuffed past!

6. Make something awesome for your train layout.

DIY Zoo Set for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! Our train twist on the Jungle Diorama from Jo-ann's Cape Discovery summer crafting challenge. #summerofjoannSo many skills can be learned from making a playable project for a toy train set — not the least of which is the enjoyment of creating something both functional and fun with your own hands! Quick projects include a dryer sheet box engine shed and an upcycled wooden train track platform. Bigger projects — like our DIY zoo train set and wooden train castles — are a fun way to spend a day working together! And if you like trees, we have oodles of DIY tree ideas to make for train sets and small worlds.

7. Take train play on the go.

Portable Train Set Pin 1 Summer means travel for many families, and when you have a young train fan along for the ride, that often means figuring out how to bring favorite toys along without packing an entire suitcase full of wooden train tracks. Which we have actually been known to do, but it’s so much easier to go with a truly portable option. Our portable pretend model train small world, pencil box wooden train set, mini sand play set, and DIY mini light boxes all pack a lot of imaginative train play into very small containers. Also consider bringing along a train track counting busy bag for the ride!

8. Combine another favorite toy with trains.

An easy, temporary way to turn any wooden train into a LEGO train. A fun design project for kids from Play Trains! This is one of our favorite things to do, especially as the Little Engineer gets older and his interests keep multiplying. Recently, we’ve been giving LEGO mini figures train rides, designing our own wooden trains with LEGO, and adding favorite LEGO sets to train layouts. In the past, we’ve combined our marble run with wooden trains, play dough with DUPLO blocks to make rolling play dough trains, and Angry Birds figures with trains in a crashtastic literacy activity, just to name a few examples.

9. Chuff around outside, pretending to be a train.

Steam Streamers for Active Train Pretend Play We’ve had so much active pretend play fun thanks to grass tracks in our backyard, and adding steam streamers only made it better! But really, all you need is your imagination, and somewhere to move. We’ve found so many “tracks” to run along everywhere we go (including IKEA!).

10. Try a science activity with a train twist.

Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda & Vinegar Trains @ Play Trains! Fun summertime science for kids who love trains.We had a lot of fun doing science activities outside last summer, often with a train element added to make them extra fun for the Little Engineer. Try baking soda and vinegar trains, or the most popular post on our site, two-color oil and vinegar discovery bottles (ours had a train theme!). Looking for more fun summer train activities? Here’s my list from last year, Top 10 Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer. Top 10 Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer @ Play Trains!

More Summer Learning Top Ten Lists

Make sure to check out the lists from all the awesome kid blogs participating in the School’s Out series: schoolsout-2ndannual-button-500

If you have a train-loving child in your life, make sure you’re signed up for our email newsletter:

More Summer Fun with Trains!

Toy Surfboard Summer Craft for Kids from Play Trains!

Toy Surfboard Craft for Kids

Summer Pom Pom Tree Craft and Fine Motor Activity from Play Trains!

Summer Pom Pom Tree Fine Motor Activity

Customize this travel-friendly mini sand play kit to match your child's interests!

Mini Sand Play Set

Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit from Play Trains!

Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit

Pool Noodle Train Tracks: Summer Train Fun for Kids @ Play Trains!

Pool Noodle Train Tracks

Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda & Vinegar Trains @ Play Trains! Fun summertime science for kids who love trains.

Fizzy Engine: Baking Soda and Vinegar Train Science Activity

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

Natural Freight for Toy Trains: Summer

DIY Zoo Set for Wooden Trains @ Play Trains! Our train twist on the Jungle Diorama from Jo-ann's Cape Discovery summer crafting challenge. #summerofjoann

DIY Recycled Wooden Train Zoo Set

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

Ice Train Play

Sand Tracks: Learning with Trains at the Beach @ Play Trains! This activity combines art, science, and sensory play, demonstrating one of the technical pages between chapters in the first book of the Peter's Railway series. These books are perfect for train-loving children of any age!

Sand Tracks: a Train Beach Activity Inspired by Peter’s Railway

Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Ice Play @ Play Trains! Activities for ice frozen in the shape of an engine and freight cars.

Icy Engine: Cool Summer Train Play

 

Top 10 Ways to Learn with Trains this Summer @ Play Trains!

Top Ten Ways to Learn with Trains the Summer

 

8 Train Books for Summer @ Play Trains! Discover eight titles to add to your little engineer's summer reading list.

8 Train Books for Summer Reading

Filed Under: New to Trains, Outdoor Activities, Preschoolers, Summer, Toddlers, Train Obsessed, Wooden Train Play Tagged With: summer

« Travel-Friendly Mini Sand Castle Kit
DIY Mini Beach Balls »

Comments

  1. Sara @ Let's Play Music says

    June 18, 2014 at 6:38 am

    Such a great post! I love the idea of a back garden train track – so much fun!

    Reply
  2. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    June 22, 2014 at 10:10 am

    It always amazes me how many train ideas you come up with and these summer-themed ones are awesome! I absolutely love that sprinkler railroad!

    Reply
  3. William M. Beltran says

    July 10, 2016 at 9:30 pm

    Wow, how cute is it! My daughter will love it for sure, I need to get out in my garden and make Pool noddle train tracks. It s gonna be a lot of fun with kid at the weedkend.
    Thks for your sharing!

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      July 11, 2016 at 9:01 am

      Have fun! My son loved the pool noodle tracks!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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.
Painting with Trains on Ceramics: tips for beautiful kid-made gifts from Play Trains!

Beautiful Kid-made Gifts: Painting with Trains on Ceramics

Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen: a wooden train picture book that inspires creative play!

Old Tracks, New Tricks by Jessica Petersen

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

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.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Our Book!

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