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Winter Train Play in the Snow

January 12, 2014 By Jessica Petersen 7 Comments

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 contribution to the series, I decided to go as simple as possible: playing in the snow with toy trains.

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

 Playing in the Snow with Trains

Materials:

  • Snow
  • A toy train

I prefer die-cast metal trains for playing in the snow. Plain plastic trains would work just as well, and so would old, worn wooden trains that no one would mind if they got a bit damaged. But I would avoid using any wooden trains that you would like to keep nice and motorized plastic trains that you’d like to keep running.

We used a Take’n’Play Thomas with a snowplow that we were fortunate to receive secondhand. The snowplow doesn’t really give this particular Thomas an advantage in plowing snow, however, so any Take’n’Play engine would do just as well. (But if you really want a Take’n’Play Thomas with a snowplow, you can search eBay for “Take’n’Play Thomas Snow Plow” or “Take’n’Play Thomas Holiday” and a few options may come up.)

You’ll probably also want to add mittens to that list. As you can see, I wasn’t quite successful at keeping those on the Little Engineer, though he did agree to wear them while building his train engineer snowman. But those little fingers can get cold awfully quick while playing with a metal train in the snow!

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

The one and only time it snowed here when the Little Engineer was two years old, we were ready and waiting to take Snowplow Thomas out. We weren’t sure how well Thomas would plow the real snow…

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

…but it turned out that he did it quite well!

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

The Little Engineer took Thomas all around our back yard, trying out his snowplow in several different situations. And sometimes, the two friends just took a moment to stop and soak in the magic of such a rare and wonderful day.

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

The next year, when the Little Engineer was three, we didn’t get a single, good snowfall at our house all winter. Snowplow Thomas and his favorite driver waited and waited, but the snow never came.

So in March, we took a trip up to a cabin in the mountains with some family, just to get a chance to play in the snow before it was officially spring. Snowplow Thomas and the Little Engineer were both delighted to get out and get plowing once again.

Winter Train Play in the Snow from Play Trains!

There is a lot a kid can learn from pushing a train through the snow. It’s a great form of sensory play, and a fun way to explore science in a playful, hands-on way. For example, in some of the photos above, Thomas mostly packed the snow he pushed into, but in this last photo, you can see that he was pushing it upward. What conditions cause these different results? Does the train plow a dusting of snow differently than a (relatively) deep drift? I mostly let the Little Engineer observe these things on their own, preferring to let him enjoy the magic of our one snowfall a year. But now that he’s a little older, there’s a lot that he and I might explore when (or should I say if?) we get our snow for this year.

Don’t forget to check back on Tuesday and Thursday for more winter train play activities. And please be sure to visit my friends and check out their fun Winter Play Days activities for today!

Winter Wonderland Small World from Buggy and Buddy

Snowed in? Make Snow Cream! from Nothing if Not Intentional

Penguin Sensory Play from Fantastic Fun and Learning

Winter Forest Small World from My Nearest and Dearest

Cookie Cutter Snowman Art from Fun-A-Day!

Our other posts in the Winter Play Days series:

Wooden Train Ski Jump -- Winter Olympics Activities for Kids from Play Trains!

Wooden Train Ski Jump

Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains from Play Trains!

Pretend Snow Sensory Play with Trains

 

And here’s more winter train fun:

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

Winter Train Book Activity: Thomas Gets a Snowplow

 

Winter Train Activities for Kids: Building a Train Engineer Snowman from Play Trains!

Train Engineer Snowman

 

Winter Train Play Ideas: Snow for Wooden Train Layouts from Play Trains!

Snow for Wooden Train Layouts

 

Winter Pom Pom Trees for Train Sets and Other Small Worlds from Play Trains!

Snow and Ice Winter Pom Pom Trees: Fine Motor Activity and Train Set Scenery

 

Some of the photos in this post were originally included in our list of ways to play with snow and trains in February 2013.

Filed Under: New to Trains, Outdoor Activities, Preschoolers, Sensory Play, Toddlers, Trackmaster and Take'n'Play, Train Obsessed, Uncategorized, Winter Tagged With: outside, snow, winter, winter play days

« Top DIY Train Projects for Kids 2013
Thomas Gets a Snowplow: Wooden Train Book Activity for Kids »

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    January 12, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    I love this post, Jessica! Sometimes the simplest of activities is by far the most memorable. And I love all the pics of The Little Engineer! So much joy 😉

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      January 13, 2014 at 1:06 am

      Thank you, Stephanie! I agree…it’s the simple ones that let the joy shine through. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Mary Catherine says

    January 12, 2014 at 3:34 pm

    I just love this, Jessica! 🙂 Your pictures are beautiful, and it’s obvious how much the Little Engineer enjoyed himself.

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      January 13, 2014 at 1:07 am

      Thank you so much, Mary Catherine! These are some of my favorite photos…he just looks so happy.

      Reply
  3. Rachael @ Nothing if Not Intentional says

    January 12, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    How sweet! And I’m glad you included the details about how it came to pass that you were able to play in that much snow. I THOUGHT you didn’t live in a snow-prone area, but I was an English major. What do I know about U.S. climate and geography? 🙂

    Reply
    • Jessica Petersen says

      January 13, 2014 at 1:09 am

      Hahaha, yes, it does snow here! But not often. We always get at least a few flakes at some point, and sometimes the sky dumps several inches on us, but rarely do we get anything that sticks on the ground more than once or twice a year.

      Us English majors have other things to think about! 😉

      Reply
  4. Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest says

    January 14, 2014 at 6:37 am

    The Little Engineer is so cute in these photos! The first few times playing in snow is such a wonderful experience for kids (and for us parents to watch!).

    Reply

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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!

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