This cardboard train track is easy to make for indoor pretend play. Kids can help design and build the track. 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.
Train play sparks a spirit of adventure and prompts creative play. You can easily support the play by making this simple homemade train track. In no time, kids will be chugging a locomotive along the track.
Train track DIY
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 for making a train track
Step 1. Railway Ties
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. Steel Rails
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 use 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.
Here are a few ideas for completing your train track small world scene.
- Create play areas inside the track with pieces of felt, craft foam or construction paper: green grass, blue pond, parking lot.
. - Add paper trees and craft stick fences.
- Add animals and small toys.
- Make a train station.
For added fun and learning create your own trains to use on the track- a locomotive and a train with train cars.
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.