All Aboard! (TR)

There is something about trains and young children that fit together. It's a theme I typically choose for that very reason. Why are children so obsessed with trains? Trains move. They have wheels and turn. Children are fascinated with motion. Trains are "child-friendly" in that they (the children) can relate to trains especially if they watch/read or are familiar with the popular "Thomas the Train" series. Trains are "hands on", some children have ridden on trains (at the State Fair!), children can imagine and create scenarios; pretend play, and mostly, they make a choo-choo sound! 

In the block area, we have a wooden wheel in the classroom that can be transformed into a car, train, plane, whatever your imagination can think of.... this week it is a train. We pull it out and then add chairs to the back. The engineer drives the train and the passengers sit in the back, but first they need to get their train ticket punched. Here are some pictures....

But first, the sensory table
(that is corn meal!)

We took turns being the train engineer!

Here's a side-view of our train

Here is a colorful train
(I bought this train at a craft fair - it is
homemade!)

Sharing the engineer job!