This week I took my little guy to a The Train Museum. Ok, it was actually called The Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History, but we call it the Train Museum in our house, for obvious reasons. "We" are obsessed with trains. My husband found this site when we were looking for new parks to visit and thought Eli would love it. He did. We spend over 3 hours there! They even had a mommy and me class that we attended (free with museum admission) and loved every second of it! The class teacher, Mr. Ken, is a former kindergarten teacher and was absolutely great at keeping the kids attention. Always a plus when you are attending any kind of class like that, especially with a two year old.
We learned and sang about the parts of the train, saw what made the train move, climbed on a foam train and we even made a recycled train at the end of the class. I was most impressed with the craft train. You know I love a good craft, but I love a good recycled craft even more :) We will definitely be attending many more classes at The Train Museum that is for sure! If you are in the Kennesaw, Ga. area I highly recommend you stop by for a visit, especially on a Thursday when they are having the train class!
Materials:
- Small Cardboard box (Tea Bag boxes are great)
- Toilet paper roll
- Wine cork
- Black construction paper (any color will do if you don't have black)
- Half an egg carton
- Paper plate
- Washable Paint
- Paintbrush
- Crafter's Glue/ Hot Glue
- Scotch tape
Start by cutting your egg carton in half with a long, serrated knife. Tape both sides together so your train body will stay intact when you are painting in the end. Next, cut your box in half using the same large knife. This is obviously a job for a grown up before they kids are involved :) I like to get all of my 'supplies' together before we sit down so I don't end up with a frustrated little boy. The last 'prep step' is cutting a triangle out of a paper plate. If you have a small paper plate you can just quarter it and use one of the pieces for your 'cow-catcher' on the front of the train.
Now that the prep is done you can get your little one involved. Using the crafter's glue, attach the Tea Box to the top of the upside-down egg carton. I like crafter's glue because it dries faster than Elmer's but is still safe for them to use...with supervision. Hold the box in place for about 15 seconds to let it set. Count out loud and encourage your kids to count with you. Eli is really into counting now so he digs this part.
Next, attach the toilet paper roll to the top of the train body, or egg carton. Hold it for about 15 seconds.
Attach the quarter piece of paper plate to the front of the train using scotch tape. The teacher called this a 'cow catcher' at the mommy and me train class, but it is actually called a 'cow killer' as one of the other moms so eloquently put it...adding that our kids are to sheltered these days. I just shook my head and quietly agreed as I turned by chair back around :)
Now attach the wine cork to the center of the toilet paper roll using some more craft glue. Hold it for a bit longer, maybe 25 seconds, so it can dry and will stay put.
The last step to assembling the train is adding the wheels. Cut small circles out of black construction paper, or any color you have on hand, and glue them to the bottom of the train. We used 3 or 4 on either side.
Let your train dry for a few minutes before you start to paint. Let your child choose a few colors for their train and let them paint it all over. We chose red and blue because Thomas is blue and Norman is red :) I was so pleased with the end result and so was Eli. He gave this to his Daddy to take to work to show off to his buddies.
If you are feeling REALLY crafty, check out this
recycled train!
We made these binoculars on a day when I had a lot of house work and we needed to be inside for a while. they are so easy to make and my son had a blast walking around 'looking for treasure' or 'discovering that squirrel outside the window' :) It's funny how something this simple can really spark their imagination!
I like to pre-measure all of my ingredients so they are all ready for my little helping hands to toss into the bowl. I find the more time I involve him the more interested he is. So allow your little ones to combine all of the ingredients: bird seed, flour, water and corn syrup. Stir the mixture until the entire bowl is moistened. 
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with your cooking spray. Place the cookie cutters on the cookie sheet and also spray the inside of each cutter, this will allow for easy patty removal in the end.
Once they have dried and are hard, pop them out of the cookie cutter and string them up where ever you want to see more birds! Ours only lasted a few days because the birds loved them so much! Next time I will only put a few outside at a time :)
you can cut all the ingredients in half to make a dozen if you don't want to use that much bird seed... but remember they make cute little gifts for the grandparents!
When all the parts are dry, attach the eyes (the two egg holders) to the Alligator body (egg carton) by applying craft glue to the base of the eyes. Hold it in place for about 20 seconds until the glue sets. Then attach the toilet paper tube to the eyes the same way. Put two dots of glue on the eye egg holder and apply the googlie eyes wherever you think looks best.
