Train Activities for Kids

Train Coloring

• Your child may enjoy coloring paper trains to post on the refrigerator or over the top of his doorway. DLTK Kids has train templates that you can print out. Children can cut out the different parts of the train, color them, and glue the train together. Alternately, you can help your child sketch out the various parts of a train using a black marker or pen on a white sheet of paper. Once you have created the train shapes, cut them out and have your child color them.

Human Train

• If you have several train-loving kids together in the same place, engage in a bit of dramatic play. Tell the kids that they are a talking train on the way to the station. As they go on their path, ask them what noises a train might make as it goes along. Ask them what the train might say as it passes certain towns, trees or animals. Have them make up details about the train, like what cargo the train is carrying and where the train is heading. If you have enough kids involved in the game, some can play the part of the train while others play the conductor, the passengers and the cargo.

Online Games

• On a rainy day, your child can get his train fix with free online games. Train Traffic Control makes your child responsible for the safety of the train passengers as he chooses which trains come in and which trains leave a busy station. In the game Runaway Train, your child is a cowboy attempting to stop a runaway train from going off the tracks. He must jump from car to car to get to the front. The game Mini Train requires your child to place certain shapes underneath the train as it travels, so that it stays on the correct tracks.

Clay Train

• While you can buy all kinds of wooden and metal train sets for your child, there is very little customization a child can do with them. Have your child create his own train out of fast-drying clay. Give him a model of a train to work off of, but encourage your child to let his imagination run wild. If he wants to create a train with wings, let him. After the train is complete, place it in a toaster oven to dry. When it has cooled, your child can put his own train creation on display.