Train Activities for Kids
Because of my daughter’s recent interest in trains, we spent an entire day doing different train-themed activities. We played games, made a train track, ate train-themed food, read books about trains, and even dressed up as a conductor, to just name a few. I think you’ll find that even the grownups will have fun with this train-themed day!
Below are basic and detailed schedules you can print so you can follow along when your family has “Train Day.” Click HERE to access the schedules.
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What did we Do?
- Make a train whistle: Use a paper towel or toilet paper roll. Secure wax paper over one end with a rubber band. This is similar to a kazoo. My daughter (3 years old at the time of writing this) used markers to color and decorate the rolls.
- Play with a train set: We don’t own a train set so instead of spending money on a new one, I decided to make our own. Helpful tip: buying a train set would have been the easier option! Here is a suggestion if you are interested. This train even comes with a map to place under the railroad tracks.
If you’d rather make your own:
- Open up a cardboard box
- Draw train tracks with a marker
- Have your child color/draw scenery on the box
- Add any special features (we added a bridge and tunnel)
To make the scenery more fun, I got out some of my daughter’s toys. This is how it looked with toys:
- Make a train out of an egg carton: I planned on my daughter pushing the egg carton train along the drawn train tracks. However, my daughter had a better idea. She flipped the egg carton over and placed the play people inside as if they were riding the train. I was pleased she was able to come up with this idea on her own at three years old. What a great imagination!
- Play Red Light/Green Light: I assume most have heard of this game but just in case, here are the rules:
- A caller will say either red, yellow, or green light.
- The player will perform an action based on which color was called.
- Red light=STOP
- Green light= GO
- Yellow light= MOVE SLOWLY
- However, my daughter informed me that this is not the correct way to play.
Her version of the game is to say “STOP” and “GO” instead of “RED light” and “GREEN light”. Depending on your child’s age, you can determine which will be easier.
- Play Ticket to Ride board game. *Warning, this game is a lot of fun! It can become addicting and a regular rotation on game night. The recommended age to play is 8+, excluding First Journey which is age 6, but kids younger can be on a team with someone older.
- United States
- Europe
- Ticket to Ride First Journey
- Nordic Countries
- Rails & Sails
- There are also MANY expansion packs, which increase the number of people that can play. *Make sure you read which starter game you need before buying the expansion. Here are a few:
- Paint a train and match colors: Download the train template HERE which contains detailed instructions on how to make this. Cut out, color, and decorate the train with colorful stickers. Our inspiration for how we decorated the train was from the book “Freight Train” by Donald Crews.
- There are a few options for this activity:
- The “easy” way: Print this train template on cardstock and have your child paint or color directly on the train.
- The “more work” and “more mess” but may be the “more fun” and certainly the “more sturdy” way: Cut out the train template and then trace onto cardboard.
- Next have your child paint the train.
- Then have him/her place colored stickers on the matching car.
As you can see in the picture below, I traced the template on cardboard and cut it out. This was a lot of work! If I had to do it over again, I would just print the train template (pages 4 and 5 on the PDF) on cardstock and have my daughter paint directly on the printed pages. However, I’m certain cardboard held up much better than cardstock would have, so it lasted a few months instead of likely weeks or days.
This activity does require some prep work for the grown-up, especially if you trace and cut the train on cardboard. My daughter helped as much as she was able to safely. She felt important “helping” me. She stabilized the pattern of the train while I traced on cardboard and then I cut it out with scissors. Once the prep work is done by an adult, your child will benefit from this activity because it is great for:
- Visual motor and scanning
- Weight bearing and proprioceptive input through his/her arms
- Matching colors
- Improving fine motor skills with stickers
- Imaginative play once the train is finished
- Sing about Trains
- Instead of singing “The Wheels on the Bus,” insert train instead of bus to sound like “The Wheels on the Train”
- Ride a Train
- Tie a rope to a laundry basket and go on a train ride around the house!
- Make things more fun by having your child get his/her ticket stamped each time he/she passes.
- Print out this cute train ticket HERE
- Play “Follow the Conductor” (Similar to “Follow the Leader”)
- Make Train Tracks and practice gross motor skills (see ideas below)
- If playing indoors use: use pool noodles or place masking tape on floor in the shape of a track
- If playing outdoors use: use pool noodles or sidewalk chalk to make the track
Get creative with play here! Make it a game and time everyone that participates.
- Jump from one track to the next (both feet)
- Jump from one track to the next (one foot at a time)
- Side step or hop
- Crab walk
- Bear crawl
- Older kids: Grapevine (Cross one leg in front of the other as you quickly walk sideways. With each step repeat with the opposite leg in the front each time.)
- Go visit a local train station, tour a train at a park, or ride a train (The following links are all websites that will navigate you away from daisiesanddoodles.com and is not affiliated with Daisies and Doodles. At the time of researching these websites, they were up to date. These links are checked regularly to ensure they are reliable and functioning.
- Take a family vacation with Amtrak
- Arizona area
- Arkansas area
- Charlotte, NC area
- Chicago, IL area
- Colorado area
- Florida area
- Georgia area
- Houston, TX area
- Indianapolis, IN area
- Joplin & Springfield, MO area
- Kansas City, MO area
- Los Angeles, CA area
- Minneapolis, MN area
- New Jersey area
- New York, NY area
- San Francisco, CA area
- Seattle, WA area
- North Texas area
- Washington, DC area
- Wisconsin area
- Various places in Europe
- The Jacobite in Scotland
- Sydney, Australia
- Various places in the United Kingdom
Developmental Skills Targeted:
- Cognitive Development: sustained attention, information processing, cognitive flexibility and control, working memory, category formation, pattern recognition
- Social and Emotional Development: expressing feelings with words, listening and paying attention, taking pride in accomplishments, turn taking
- Sensory Integration: tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive
- Motor planning and Coordination
- Speech and Language Development: expressive and receptive language, following directions
- Fine motor skills: academic skills- pencil skills (scribbling, coloring, drawing, writing), scissor skills, play skills (construction), bilateral hand integration
- Gross motor skills: locomotor skills (running, jumping, crawling, etc.)
- Vision: visual discrimination, visual closure, visual figure ground, visual scanning
What did we eat?
- Train Chicken Salad sandwiches
- I love The Pioneer Woman’s chicken salad recipe!!
- Although, I do change a couple of things in the recipe when I make it. I use chicken breast instead fryer chicken and bok choy instead of celery.
- *Make this the night before to save time the day of!
- You can also make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- I love The Pioneer Woman’s chicken salad recipe!!
- Fruit Skewers with train signs
- Download the train signs HERE and glue the signs to fruit skewers
- Cheese and Cracker Train for snack
- I didn’t have string cheese in my fridge at the time I made this so I just tore sandwich cheese into strips to attach the cars.
Ideas of what to read:
Ages 1-3:
- The World of Eric Carle, Turn, Crank, ZOOM! by Editors of Phoenix International Publications
- The Goodnight Train Board Book by: June Sobel
- Spot’s Train by Eric Hill
Ages 2-4
- The Little Engine That Could by: Watty Piper
- Count the Lovely Trains! I Spy Book for Kids Ages 2-5 by Jasper Daesdonk Publishing
Ages 3+
- The Big Book of Trains by: DK
- How Trains Work by: Clive Gifford
- National Geographic Readers: Trains by: Amy Shields
- Pete the Cat’s Train Trip by James Dean
Ages 6+
- Train to Nowhere (Jack Jones) by Zander Bingham
- Trains! by Susan E Goodman
- All Aboard! How Trains Work by Jennifer Prior
Ideas of what to watch:
- Freight Train by Donald Crews
- Blippi: My daughter LOVES Blippi and everything about him! Here are two Blippi train videos:
- The Polar Express
What to wear:
- Overalls
- Bandana
- Train pajamas (like the Polar Express)
- Conductor Dress Up Kit
- Make your own train conductor’s hat HERE with both adult and kid sizes
I hope what I said in my opening paragraph proved to be true: everyone participating had a great time doing these various train activities! Let me know in the comments how your train day went. I’d also love to see your train-themed days on social media.
Great ideas for young children!
Thank you Alice!
This is super creative and useful for my next teaching day in my class! Thank you so much.
Thank you Kayla!! I’d love if you’d post some pictures on either Instagram or Facebook!