How to Make Train Track for Pretend Play
This train track is easy to make for indoor pretend play. Kids can help design and build the track . Add play pieces such as a train with cardboard and tape. Add a train station and passengers to inspire awesome imaginative play.
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There is something magical about train play. Wheels clanging on steel tracks. Smoke billowing from the engine. The conductor crying out - All aboard!
Kids can create the magic of trains with their own pretend play. Inspire the play with this train track you can make with a large piece of cardboard and a roll of electrical tape.
In no time, kids will be chugging a locomotive along the track.
Train play sparks a spirit of adventure and prompts creative play. You can easily support the play by making this simple homemade train track.
Train track DIY
Supplies
Cardboard
We built our track on a piece of cardboard 26 x 59 inches (66 x 150 cm). You can use any size of cardboard you have on hand, or tape two or more pieces together.
Tape
We used black electrical tape to make the track but it would be fun to get creative with colored masking tape or washi tape.
The dimensions provided in the instructions below are based on the size of our locomotive craft.
Instructions
Step 1. Cut strips of black electrical tape 4-inch (10 cm) to make 'railway ties'. Place strips of tape on the cardboard approximately 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) apart.
Step 2. Place long pieces of tape onto the 'ties' for the 'steel rails'.
- At the corners, make small cuts in the tape and overlap the ends to smooth out the tape.
How to play with your homemade train track
There is so much opportunity for imaginative play with train play: train cars are being loaded with cargo; passengers are waiting to board; a locomotive is chug-chugging into the station.
For added fun and learning create your own toys.
- Make a locomotive, a train with train cars and a train station to extend the small world play.
- Create play areas inside the track with pieces of felt or construction paper: green grass, blue pond, parking lot
. - Add paper trees and craft stick fences.
- Add animals and small toys.
Kids are drawn to train play for all the fun opportunities it provides to pretend.
Enjoy the magic of trains with your own creative ideas.
