What’s more fun than playing with toy trains? Playing inside one!!! While you may not be able to head out somewhere that has one of those motorized trains OR purchase a massive one for your backyard, you can easily create a simple version with some items you may already have at home! With a bit of imagination, your kids will have a ton of time with this kid-sized train! Read on to check out the fun!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
THE SUPPLIES:
- Upcycled LARGE Cardboard Boxes in roughly similar shapes and sizes (preferably ones that your kiddo can sit in)
- Paint or wrapping paper (for the train color)
- Black Circle-Shaped Paper Plates OR Black Circle Shaped Construction Paper
- Upcycled Cylinder (oatmeal canister, etc..) OR 2 Full Toilet Paper Rolls
- One Sheet of Grey Tissue Paper
THE TOOLS
- Tape
- Scissors
STEPS
STEP 1: Create the Train Cars
Set up the box so that the top portion is fully open – this will be where the children can sit and pretend they are on an actual train 🙂 You can either box cut the top flaps off or simply fold them down.
Then paint or wrap the rest of the box in your chosen color. If painting, allow for time to dry.
STEP 2: Optionally add the locomotive
The kids will likely have just as much fun getting in and out of the train cars; however, you can also add the locomotive or front car. Use a slightly taller box to create space for the train engineer & a longer, closed box to create the engine portion. Paint or wrap those boxes as well.
STEP 3: Add the Wheels
Though this train won’t actually move, it definitely needs wheels! If you’ve got some black circle shaped plates, just attach them to the train cars (glue or strong tape would work). Otherwise, you can use whatever you have on hand & attach those. For this train, we just cut out circles with black construction paper. Whatever looks like a wheel 🙂
STEP 4: Create the Chimney
For this train, we didn’t have any oatmeal canisters, so we simply used full toilet paper rolls. We stacked two on top of each other, wrapped them in red and then stuffed a bit of grey tissue paper in the middle for the smoke 🙂
STEP 5: Optionally Decorate
If you’re going for a specific look or want to add a name to your train, feel free to decorate!!!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you so much for checking out our upcycled train article! We hope this has helped and maybe even inspired more ideas!
If you are looking for more DIY craft ideas, please feel free to check out our other posts: Crafts for Kids and follow us on Pinterest!
Happy Creating!
