| Activity Ideas: Train Movement Divide your class into three groups. Have each group form a train. Instruct the children to move around the class and remain connected (hands on the shoulders on the person in front of them). Every minute or two switch engines. Train Whistles Supply each child with an empty plastic soda bottle. Invite the children to decorate the bottle however they wish. With stickers or glue on paper etc. To make the whistle sound, blow across the bottle's opening. Have the children blow all at once and pretend to be a train. Twinkie Trains Take one "Twinkie" and 6 vanilla wafers. Use those decorator gels in the tubes (or you can use cream cheese to glue the wheels on) and have the kids decorate the twinkies then "glue" the wheels on the sides. Use a marshmallow for the smoke stack. Marshmallow Trains Use pretzel sticks to hook the "cars" together and use peanut butter to glue cheerios on as wheels and other features. Engines Spread peanut butter on a graham cracker, add two banana slices for wheels and a triangular piece of cheese for the front of the engine. Use a small cracker for the smoke stack and away we go.... Bread Engines Cut a bread square into two rectangles. Put one of the rectangles on a piece of foil and cut the other into two squares. Put on of the squares above the rectangle to make a cab for the engine and cut the other square into two triangles. Put one triangle above the cab and the other in front of the engine. Spread the train with tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese and add sliced tomatoes for the wheels. Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Working On the Railroad Show your children how to draw railroad tracks in the sand with craft sticks or unsharpened pencils. Have them make the tracks go up hills, down valleys and around corners. Then give the children small toy trains to run over the tracks Balloon Powered Train Materials: scissors, tape, a straw and a round balloon. Directions: Cut off the lip of the balloon. Cut the straw in half. Stick the straw into the balloon and tape it in place, be sure to make a tight seal. Tape the straw to the top of a car or train so the straw is off the end. Blow up the balloon through the straw and seal the balloon by pinching the straw. Set the car down on a smooth surface and let it go. Ho Bo Chicken Soup Materials: 2 chicken breasts, 1 cup sliced carrots, 1 cup celery, 1 box dry chicken soup, 1 cup egg noodles Directions: Cook first 3 ingredients until done. Remove chicken and dice. Add soup mix and noodles. Cook until noodles are tender. Add chicken and remove from heat. Side rail Salad Materials: 1 cup mandarin oranges (drained),1 (8oz) can chunk pineapple, 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup coconut, 1 cup miniature marshmallows Directions: Drain oranges and pineapple. Mix sour cream, coconut and marshmallows. Fold in drained fruits and mix. Set in refrigerator several hours before serving "Choo-Choo-wey" Fudge Brownies Materials: 1/4 cup butter, 6 oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips, 3/4 cup of sugar, 2/3 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup chopped nuts Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom only of a square pan, 8x8x2 inches, with shortening. Heat butter and chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted; remove from heat. Stir in nuts. Bake until the center is set, about 30 minutes. Let brownies cool completely, then cut. Makes 20 brownies. TRAIN TRACKS ON FLOOR Paint a canvas floor cloth with train tracks. Choose the background color to match or fades into your room's carpet color. TRAIN DEPOT I recently painted a wall mural of a train pulling into an old-fashioned train station. Under the mural I placed my child sized table. On the other side of the room I put cabinets for storage, each cabinet painted to resemble a building in a town (library, auto mechanics shop, pet shop). For the comforter, a blue and white ticking design to resemble an engineer's cap and overalls looks great, along with solid pillows with railroad crossing signs monogrammed on. |
| Train DAZE |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| c. Marcia Arpin www.alltheDAZE.com 2002 |
| TRAIN STICKERS ON MURAL ======================= I painted my son's bedroom with hills on the bottom half and sky with clouds on the top half. I painted a train track and bought removable train stickers to go on the tracks. He loved moving the trains around! I also got free samples of wallpaper and borders (anything appropriate to the room) and cut out pieces to paste on the walls. I made one area a construction zone with a hill made out of cut-out rocks and vehicles. Cutting out these pieces was easier than painting them, and I could do it while he was sleeping. His friends all thought he had the coolest room. We have since moved and miss that room a lot. Train Cars ========== Use one large cardboard box per child. Cut top and bottom off. Make shoulder straps from heavy ribbon. Let them paint their own train cars. Use small painted paper plates for the wheels. Line them up and let them march and sing "Workin on the Railroad." People Train ============ Make a train using people. Have the person in the back wear a conductor's hat. Have the conductor say where the train will go. One person can use color signal flags to guide the train. Sing train songs as you have the children hold onto each other's waists and choo-choo around the room. Railroad Tag ============ As few as five can play but more is better. This is a version of tag where a group does the tagging rather than just one person. Choose two players to start the train. They join hands and chase the other players in order to "tag" one. When tagged, a player joins hands with them and becomes part of the train. The game is over when everyone forms one train. All Aboard the Color Train ========================== Cut out many "tickets" from different colors of construction paper. Give each child three or four tickets. Tell the children that you are the conductor of a Color Train and they can ride the train if they have a ticket that matches the color you call. Set up chairs or have the children line up to march around the room. Announce "All aboard the Red Train" or the color of your choice. Have the children give you their ticket and have them march around the room. After a minute, announce a new color. Variations: use numbers, letters or shapes instead of colors. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Event Planning Publications Illustrations Online Store Contact |
| Event Planning Publications Illustrations Online Store Contact |