Thomas and Friends - Thomas and Diesel created by Britt Allcroft based on the railway series by the Reverend W Awdry, Gullane (Thomas) Limited and published by Dean - Egmont UK Limited is a short but exciting story about Thomas and Diesel having a race. They start with racing backwards bit this causes problems and they want to find out who is fastest so they have to come up with another plan. The pictures are photos and the story is written in big writing which is nicely spaced out. It is a pleasure to read.
Activities
Table track
Box train (for your child/children)
Box train (for teddies)
Carriage activity (shape, number, letter or colour)
Train listening activity
Train station visit
Train timetable reading
Train journey
Train jobs discussion
Chalk train track
Turn in to a train activity
Race around the track
Train on the table
Train wheel biscuits
Train sandwiches
Indoor
There are lots of lovely activities to go with this story that involve trains. If your children/child has their own train then they could make their own track. Cover a table with paper and either you or your child/children can draw their own track. They can be as imaginative as they want or for older children you could give them 3 or 4 pieces of shaped track that they need to use to make it more technical and challenging. They could make bridges to go over using card or toilet rolls or blocks/bricks to make it 3D. If you could get hold of some big boxes they could make their own train with carriages or if you could only get hold of small ones they could make their own train and carriages for their teddies/cuddly toys. You could use paper plates or some large card circles for the wheels and a kitchen roll tube for the chimney. They could paint each carriage a different colour and think of a name for each carriage and the engine will need a name too. For a more educational activity you could encourage your child/children to paint and engine and then you could make some carriages to go behind it. On each carriage you could draw a letter, shape or number and then ask your child to create the letter, shape or number using playdough (this can be made using 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of water and a bit of food colouring. If you add the food colouring to the water you get a more even colour). For younger children you could just colour the carriages and ask your child/children to find things matching that colour.
Outdoor
If you live somewhere near a railway you could listen out for the trains and your child/children could write down the times they hear the trains go past or do a tally of how many they hear in a certain amount of time. You could take your child/children to visit a train station and teach them how to read the timetable or just watch the trains go past. You could also take them on a train journey and discuss the different jobs involved with trains like engineering, the driver and conductor. For an outdoor activity at home you could draw a track using chalk (it will then wash away when it rains) and then your child/children can pretend to be a train. They could use their imagination or dress as a train driver or you could make a train outfit with them. Get two big pieces of card and join together with string loosely (they need to be able to put it over their head and wear it on their body). Decorate the front with a paper plate for the trains face and then they will look like a train as they go around the track. Don't forget to tell them to do train arms as they go along. Your child/children could have a race and see how fast they can get around the track.
Food/Cooking
The first one isn't really train food or cooking but you could create a train on the table with food in. If you cover the table with a paper table cloth and then draw a track on you could use a toy train as the engine and then use plates, containers or bowls as the carriages and then you could put snacks and food in to make it look like you have a train on the table. You could add card wheels at the front of the plates, containers or dishes for a more real effect. For a sweet food activity you could make some round biscuits and then decorate them as the train's wheels (or you could just buy some round biscuits and decorate them). For a savoury food activity if you make some sandwiches and cut them in half so that they are rectangle you could turn these into trains. Stand the on their edge and add some mini cheddars as the wheels and then stick a breadstick in as a chimney. Trains are such a fun thing to be creative with.
コメント