Sunday, December 26, 2010

Fun Train Craft

On Christmas Eve, Nicholas and Nathan were listening to the older kids talking and started asking me if there really was a Santa.  I said "if you believe there is a Santa, then he is real."  I asked Nathan if he remembered watching the Polar Express movie at school, he said he remembered and then stopped asking about Santa.  I think we're safe for another year or so.  Nicholas is nine and he still "sort of" believes, not sure how much longer he will.  Then, I played the Santa message videos that I made from PNP and read them the Polar Express book.  Afterwards we started working on our trains. 

You will need empty toilet paper rolls or cut up paper towel rolls or even cut up wrapping paper tubes (which is what I used), paint, poster board, yarn, tape and tacky glue (because regular glue didn't stick very well).


Paint the empty tube rolls various colors.  We used black, red, orange, yellow, green and blue (but you can make as many cars and use as many colors as you like).





I used black poster board to make some wheels and also used matching poster board (matched to the paint colors) for the side panels of the cars.   *Hint - if you don't have colored poster board, you can paint white poster board, the board is sturdy enough to hold the paint without it seeping or bleeding through.

  I cut the rectangle shapes to fit the size of the tubes.  The boys then used glue sticks to glue the wheels to the side panels



While the paint on the tubes dried the boys watched the Polar Express movie.

I cut out a black circle to cover the front of the train (the opening of the tube) and made a long rectangle to go over the train (fold into three's to make sides and a roof).  You can also make windows or add little decorations like stickers or whatever you like to the train when it is dry.


Glue the side panels to the painted tubes.  This is where the tacky glue comes in handy.  You want the wheels to hang over the sides of the tube.


Assemble the train by threading the yarn through the tubes and then taping the yarn to the inside of the tubes.




Isn't the train just adorable?! LOVE it! 

Linking to....



Shibley Smiles
 
 
 




19 comments:

momandkiddo said...

My son loves trains, he would enjoy this.

Unknown said...

Your family is SO adorable. LOVE this project. I really miss having a little kid around : ) I loved doing things like this. I will see if my 10 year old will do this with me while we are off this week!

Helene said...

Charlene, you are SO creative!! I love it!!! Landon loves trains and I bet he'd love this...esp on a rainy day!!!!

RedTedArt said...

I LOVE anything made out of paper tube rolls (so much in fact, I even produced a small ebook all about paper rolls!), so I ADORE your train! It is brilliant!

Thank you for taking the time to link up to Kids Get Crafty! Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Maggy

Jet-Setting Divas said...

this was so adorable!

Anonymous said...

I love the reuse of the tubes. The trains look great. Thanks for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Very cute craft! We read The Polar Express too, but daughter was not thrilled with it. She cannot make up her mind whether she believes in Santa or not.

Aimee said...

Cute Cute Cute! I can't wait for Bubba to be old enough for things like this!

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Unknown said...

That looks like a lot of fun!

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Have a great day! :)

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Alliejean said...

Cute craft! I am following you from FMBT. I would love it if you would follow me too!
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Karren Haller said...

Looks like you had a really fun Christmas, great family.
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Michelle H said...

Thanks for this post-I've been looking for a craft to use in pre-school this week and I think I'll try this!

Unknown said...

I love this and will definately try it with my 2.5 year old! She loves trains (thanks to Chuggington) and I haven't been able to do one with toilet rolls!

mermaid said...

Oh, that`s cute :)

We will definitely try it!

kaka said...

nice to meet your blog
Play Bingolottery uk

The Monko said...

i love this idea, its so simple and looks so great. Definitely nicking this one for the ideas bag.

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