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

Wooden Train Jingle Bell Shakers

December 8, 2014 By Jessica Petersen Leave a Comment

We love experimenting with adding other sensory elements to wooden train play. Adding sounds to our trains always is especially fun, and these wooden train jingle bell shakers are no exception. This is the perfect way to get child who loves trains involved in making music, whether that’s Christmas carols or any kind of music, all year round. Especially with the blue and silver colors we used, our jingle train was festive without being too Christmasy for other times of the year, and I love the way the bells look a little bit like balloons floating around Thomas. I also have some suggestions for turning this into a learning activity.

Jingle Trains: how to temporarily turn wooden trains into wooden train jingle bell shakers! Fun for ringing along with Christmas carols or for music activities all year long. http://play-trains.com/

This post contains links to Amazon.com. If you click on one, we will receive a small commission — at no additional cost to you — on anything you buy at Amazon for a certain length of time afterwards. Read our disclosure policy for more details.

 

Wooden train jingle bell shakers are very easy to make, and this is a completely temporary change for the trains. All you need is:

  • A wooden train
    • Take’n’Play train would also work, but with a Trackmaster or other motorized train, I would be really careful to make sure the bands don’t get caught up in the wheels.
  • Loom bands
    • I chose blue loom bands to match Thomas’ paint!
  • Jingle bells (some of our jingle bells — some of the smaller silver-colored ones — came from a package sent to us from CraftProjectIdeas.com)
    • You’ll want to get medium to large jingle bells for this project, to make it easier to thread the rubber bands through them.

Jingle Trains: how to temporarily turn wooden trains into wooden train jingle bell shakers! Fun for ringing along with Christmas carols or for music activities all year long. http://play-trains.com/

Here’s a quick video of me putting bells on Thomas and the Little Engineer demonstrating how the jingle train works:

To make your jingle train, all you have to do is thread a rubber band through a bell, pulling one end through the other to secure the bell without tying a knot. Then you stretch the band around the train so that it lies between two of the wheels. (Make sure to adjust the band so it isn’t touching either the wheels or the axles.) You can adjust the bell on top so that you like the placement. Then add as many more as you want.

Learning Activities with Wooden Train Jingle Bell Shakers

Just playing trains with one of these jingle trains will be a fun sensory experience for your child. However, if you’d like to add additional opportunities for learning to the activity, here are a few ideas:

  • Try different combinations of bells with your child: all little bells, all medium-sized bells, all large bells, and then all different combinations of bells. Lots of bells, or just one or two. Talk about how the sound changes: is it higher? Lower? Ask why they think that happens.
  • Count the bells with your child, and talk about adding or subtracting bells as you change them.
  • You could also shake jingle trains along with the beat of music, or while singing songs or reciting rhymes, to build an awareness of rhythm.
  • Challenge your child to move the train so slowly along the track that it doesn’t jingle at all. You could pretend another train or toy is asleep, and the jingle train must try not to wake it.

Safety

Both the jingle bells and the rubber bands are potential choking hazards. This activity is not recommended for children who are still likely to put toys in their mouths. Only allow children to play with these trains under full adult supervision.

More Jingle Bell Train Fun

You can also use the bells and trains from this activity in another festive science activity, Jingle Bell Coupling Chains for Wooden Trains.

Jingle Bell Coupling Chains for Wooden Trains: a fun, hands-on science exploration for Christmas or any time of year from Play Trains!

More Christmas Train Fun

Christmas Train Books for Kids: a big list of holiday books for children who love trains -- recommended by Play Trains!

Christmas Train Books for Kids

Pipe Cleaner Trees Christmas Craft for Train Sets and Small Worlds from Play Trains!

Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees for Train Sets and Other Small Worlds

Christmas Wooden Train Layout from Play Trains!

White Christmas Wooden Train Layout

DIY Felt Train Ornament Kids Christmas Craft from Play Trains!

Kid-made Felt Train Ornament

Holiday Breakfast Train -- fun and yummy train play for Christmas morning, birthdays, or other special occasions from Play Trains!

Holiday Breakfast Train

Recycled Play Dough Molds from Play Trains! A great way to reuse toy packaging after Christmas or birthday presents are unwrapped.

Recycled Toy Packaging Play Dough Molds

Christmas Fine Motor Activity: Light Up Pipe Cleaner Christmas Tree for Small Worlds from Play Trains!

Light-up Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees for Small Worlds

Coal-Black Chocolate Cupcakes for Christmas treats or train birthday parties from Play Trains!

Coal-black Chocolate Cupcakes

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

Painting with Trains: Thomas the Tank Engine Candy Cane Ornament

Filed Under: Christmas, Making Trains Exciting Again, Music Activities with Trains, Preschoolers, Sensory Play, Toddlers, Train Obsessed, Uncategorized, Winter, Wooden Train Play Tagged With: Christmas, music, sound, wooden trains

« Do You Need a Train Table? — The Play Trains! Ultimate Wooden Train Guide
Train Gifts for Toddlers »

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.
Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set @ Play Trains! Come see how big the Little Engineer grinned the first time he put together this DIY train set you can take along to play anywhere!

Portable Small World: Pretend Model Train Set

Dress Up Costumes for Toy Trains from Play Trains! A fun way to decorate wooden trains (or other toy trains) without damaging them.

Dress Up Costumes for Wooden Trains

A simple trick to give Lego minifigs a way to ride wooden trains -- from Play Trains!

Lego Minifigures and Wooden Trains: Tips and Tricks

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