Small World: Holiday Train

Last winter holiday we left a week early to visit Grandma and Grandpa, missing the Grade 1 teacher’s annual whole-class train building (using shoeboxes).  Our eldest son was rather disappointed and has always wanted to build his own winter train.  (This one is an arctic museum train, displaying different kinds rocks.)

Using various wooden items to make something else is a great open-ended activity to keep kids engaged over the holidays.  Go with your child(ren)’s interests.  Here was our son’s idea! 

Materials

• Wooden materials (he chose these little boxes, blocks and various other wooden embellishments)

• Glue gun/glue (You could go with wood glue if you like)
• Acrylic paint
• Brushes
• Sand paper (If needed)
• Cotton batting or cotton balls

• Gesso (Optional, but it helps the paint adhere to the wood)
• Any other materials you may like to create a background scene, diorama feel etc.  (For example he used felt, tissue paper, glitter paint, metallic pastels, watercolour paints, paintbrushes etc.)

We always find a smock helpful for these types of projects too:

Directions

• Don your smock. Glue together any items to form your train and that you want to paint the same colour.  (As you can see our son re-evaluated his decision regarding the wheels- which he popped off to paint black.  It is good for children to make these discoveries on their own and re-work their plans accordingly.  All these experiences lend to future abilities to plan, assess and re-configure projects.)

• Cover your train with a thin layer of gesso.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Paint your train and the additional wooden parts that you would like to add whatever colours you like.  For example our son and daughter painted the wheels black and the train body red.  You may need a few coats.

• Glue your embellishment pieces on.  We used a glue gun, but you could go with the option of wood glue if you like.

• Create a base for the world your train will be in.  Our son went with two pieces of paper glued together, a tissue paper lake and a coating of glitter paint to create a sparkly snow effect.  Create any other items to enhance your environment such as the 3-D mountain (tissue paper glued and painted over an existing plastic train tunnel), the 2-D mountain background (made with pastels and a watercolour wash) and the northern lights (on the backs of the mountains).  He added a little bit of cotton batting to form the train’s smoke and snow.  His track was made from a little picket fence.  Go with whatever you would like and the materials you have on hand!

• With the extra pieces our son created another miniature train for his train-loving little brother for Christmas!  (Shhhh…)

Purpose

• Creating models and backgrounds a process that is transferrable to many school projects and construction explorations in the future.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and the glue gun with care and direct adult supervision and guidance.
• Small, wooden items can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.