How to Make Your Own Train Games

Gather family members to write down the rules of your train game with a notebook and pen. It's important that everyone understand the rules ahead of time so there are no arguments later. The object of the train game will be to see who can haul the most marbles in a paper cup mounted on the toy train from a loading station to an unloading dock.

Lay out your train track and connect power to it. Place your train on the train tracks.

Build a paper cup loader. This can be built by wrapping a rubber band around one of the train cars. Piper cleaners can go between the rubber band and the train car. Feed the pipe cleaner through holes poked into the paper cups. Twist the pipe cleaner ends together to secure the paper cup to the train car.

Decide on where the loading station and unloading dock will be on your train track layout. If you want, you can place books at these locations. Place the marbles at the loading station.

Take turns controlling the train. Everyone will have a chance to go back and forth between the loading station and unloading dock. They will have five minutes to move as many marbles as possible to the unloading dock. It can be tricky because too many marbles in the cup will cause it to tip over. Use a stopwatch to time the turns.

Count the marbles after each turn. Mark the count in a notebook. Return all of the marbles to the loading station after each turn for the next player.

After everyone has had a turn, see who has moved the most marbles. That person is the winner of the train game.