How To Decorate Toy Train Tracks

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{ I am absolutely thrilled to have Rebekah from The Golden Gleam guest posting on the blog! She is sharing a terrific idea to extend the play time for your child's toy train tracks, and it's an idea that I plan on doing with R as soon as possible. If you like this post, you can find more like it by visiting The Golden Gleam. Thank you so much for sharing, Rebekah! }


When my daughter was a toddler, the train set was one of her favorite toys, but now that she is 4 1/2 years old, it is neglected.  Since I am not ready to abandon it yet, I have figured out a way to make the train tracks more appealing to her.  We decorate the tracks to create scenery and stories.




When I ask her if she would like to decorate the train tracks with me, she is enthusiastic about playing with the trains. She helps me look for items to decorate the tracks.  We collect an assortment of crafting materials and various odds and ends.  
Ideas for Materials to Decorate Train Tracks

• scraps of felt or fabric
• paper bags
• rocks
• pom poms
• cotton balls
• flat glass marbles
• tea lights
• toilet paper tubes
• shells
• small toy animals
• empty food boxes
• lids
• coins
• twigs
• artificial flowers
• tissue paper
• blocks
• ribbon

Once we have gathered our materials, she decides how each item will be used along the train tracks. For example, strips of green felt will be a grassy meadow and cotton balls will be snow.  She arranges the items around the train tracks. 

We play trains when the decorating is complete.  The materials may cause problems for the trains like when a snowstorm covers the tracks, and we work on solving that problem in our story.  Sometimes the materials help solve problems like when she threw blue craft marbles (water) on top of a fire (orange feathers).

Adding an element of creativity is a great way to bring new life to an old toy.  It brings play and art together, and encourages children to create stories and use their imaginations.  

Rebekah is a former teacher and now stay at home mom who writes about ways to light up kids through art, play, learning, and a lot of love over at The Golden Gleam. If you want to follow more of her creative ideas, like The Golden Gleam's Facebook Page.  

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