Book Babies + Toddler Time: Trains
Book Babies + Toddler Time: Trains
Children find trains fascinating. It could be its speed and motion as it moves on the track. Or perhaps it’s the unique sounds that it makes as it passes by. What ever it is, trains wake up excitement, curiosity, and creativity in a child’s mind. So, with plenty of “Choo, choo’s,” have fun with these books and activities.
Book Babies: Wednesday @ 9:45am in Community Room
Ages 0 – 10 months
Toddler Time: Monday & Tuesday @ 9:45am in Community Room
Ages 11 – 23 months
Welcome Songs
Here We Are Together
Here we are together, together, together! Oh, here we are together in our library. There’s (sing names)… Here we are together in our library!
Hello Everybody
Hello everybody let’s clap our hands*, clap our hands, clap our hands. Hello everybody let’s clap our hands today! *pat our head, stretch up high, wiggle our fingers, tickle our knees, kick our feet, bounce up high!
S, T, R, W, P
(Sing while pointing to each finger on your child’s hand.) Sing, talk, read, write, play! Sing, talk, read write, play! Sing, talk, read, write, play! Sing, talk, read, write, play each day!
Sing, Talk, Read, Write, Play
Tip
When your children have happy experiences, they want to repeat them. Starting kindergarten can seem as an extension of informal library classes. Children who have had joyful experiences in the public library often approach school with a positive attitude, ready and excited to learn.
Activity
Help your toddler make an “egg carton” train like this one: What Can We Use Egg Cartons For? Make a Train. Then sing some songs and rhymes about trains.
Books Presented
Choo Choo by Petr Horáček
What could be more fun than an old-fashioned train ride? Off go the passengers, past the town, into the woods (Shhh, Shhh), over the bridge (Clack, Clack), into the tunnel (Toot, Toot), and back out into the sunshine. Who could guess that the destination is–a day at the seaside?
Freight Train by Donald Crews
Brief text and illustrations trace the journey of a colorful train as it goes through tunnels, by cities, and over trestles
I'm Dirty by Kate and Jim McMullan
A busy backhoe loader describes all the items it hauls off a lot and all the fun it has getting dirty while doing so.
Songs, Rhymes, and Fingerplays
Engine, Engine Number 9
Engine, engine number 9
Coming down Chicago Line
If the train goes off its track
Do you want your money back?
Yes? (sway to the side)
No? (sway to the other side)
Maybe so? (sway back and forth)
Chugga-Choo Freight Train
Chugga- chugga choo choo goes the freight train,
Chugga- chugga choo choo goes the freight train,
Chugga- chugga choo choo goes the freight train,
Uuuuuuup the hill!
Doooown the track!
The Wheels on the Train
Tune to “Wheels on the Bus”
The wheels on the train go clackety clack
Clackety clack, clackety clack
The wheels on the train, go clackety clack
All along the track.
More verses:
The whistle… goes whoo, whoo, whoo
The conductor… says, “All Aboard”
The people … go bumpety, bump
This Little Train
This little train ran up the track
Trail fingers up baby’s arm from fingers to shoulder
It went Choo Choo!
Tap baby’s nose!
And then it ran back.
Trail fingers back down baby’s arm.
The other little train ran up the track
Trail fingers up baby’s other arm from fingers to shoulder
It went Choo Choo!
Tap baby’s nose!
And then it ran back.
Trail fingers back down baby’s arm.
Flannel Board: Down by the Station
Down by the station early in the morning
See the little puffer trains all in a row
See the engine driver turn the little handle
Puff puff, chuff chuff, off we go! (remove one train, and count)
Baby Sign Language
“More”
“All Done”
Additional Books
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Trains Chug by Rebecca Stromstad Glaser
There’s a lot of building going on in Playtown! There is so much to explore, learn, and discover inside this busy, busy book – diggers are digging holes, materials are being delivered, and roads are being laid. On every page there are fun flaps to lift which tell children more about the picture above, and at the back of the book is a big page to fold out that reveals a bustling construction scene
Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker
Who Takes the Train
Naledi is taking the train to the beach with her Mum – and there is so much to see!
