Trains: Day One

T is for Train

Learn about Trains--the types of trains, the cars that make up a train, how a train moves, the sounds trains make.

Read a book about trains such as:
The Little Engine that Could--Watty Piper
I Love Trains!!--Philemon Sturges
Freight Train--Donald Crews

Talk about the different types of trains mentioned in books--steam engines, freight trains, passenger trains, little engines, etc. There are different types of cars that are put together to build a train.

• Hopper Car – an open top car that carries cargo that is poured into the top of the car, such as; coal, wheat, and sand.
• Flat Car – a flat floor on wheels that carries large loads that are usually tied on, like; lumber, machinery. Also carries large containers stacked on top.
• Box Car – is a four sided rectangular car with a large side door. It carries boxes of cargo.
• Tank Car – is a metal tube shaped car. It carries liquid, such as; milk, oil or gasoline.
• Caboose – is the last car on a train. It is a home and an office for the train workers.

Trains have to move on tracks. Their wheels go around and around and the engine is the car that pulls the rest of the train.

Train Song:
Train
(Tune of The Farmer in the Dell)
The engine chugs along,
The engine chugs along,
Up and down the mountain tracks,
The engine chugs along.
The train goes click, click, click,
The train goes click, click, click,
Straight across the open plain,
The train goes click, click, click!
The whistle goes woo, woo,
The whistle goes woo, woo,
All across the USA,
The whistle goes woo, woo!!


Build your own train:
DLTK's Easy Train Paper Craft



An Engineer is the person who drives a train:
E is for Engineer coloring page. (E is for Engine is on there, too. Or, make one for T is for Train.)


Train Coloring Pages:
Click Here

Train Play:
Pretend to be an engineer of your own train. If you have engineer hats, handkerchiefs, etc., dress up as engineers and get ready to drive a train. Move around the room as a train would, making train sounds: "Chugga, chugga, choo-choo!!" Take turns being the leader (engineer) and follow each other around the room. The leader gets to choose if your train goes fast, slow, crawling, backwards, etc...


A Snack Train:
Cut an egg carton in half. Have child pretend that this is their train. (He could paint the bottom black to make the wheels or decorate their train with colored paper, etc.) Give child a package of fruit snacks (or other small snacks) and have him fill up his train and drive it along the tracks to the table.

Cut empty egg cartons in-half lengthwise.

Set out snack “cargo” in bowls, such as; raisins, mini-marshmallows, tiny crackers, cereals, plus serving spoons.
Have children run their trains along in front of the snack bowls and fill up their freight trains with “cargo”.