Trains

For weeks five and six we studied Benjamin's favorite topic: trains. He already had quite the aptitude for trains and his enthusiasm made this unity study fun for me as well.

Our reading list:
The Transcontinental Railroad by Peter Anderson
The Transcontinental Railroad by Edward F. Dolan
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (as well as the audio version)
Railways and Trains by Caroline Young (Usborne)
Bullet Trains by William Amato
The World's Railroads: High-Speed Trains by Christopher Chaunt

Numerous Thomas the Tank Engine books by Rev. W Audry

Our train lapbook.




What begins with "T" book.

Circus counting train.


Circus animal train.


Another counting train.


Scenes he created in his sticker activity book.




Train rhyming words. Lift up the word for to find the rhyming word underneath.


Tic-tac-toe board with conductor hat and railroad crossing pieces.


Parts of a steam train and a diesel train.


Benjamin made a lacing card and he illustrated a three page story that he narrated to me. It is an exciting adventure that takes place on the Island of Sodor, with lots of crashes and accidents. It is very cute and original.



Benjamin completed this entire numbers book.


Numbers and Letters practice.



A train maze with its own little train to use and writing the letter "T" practice.


I used these links for a lot of my information and printouts:

Homeschool Share
Free Printable Fun


At Sprout Club he learned about bats and spiders.



We went to the historic train museum downtown. This was where the Ringling circus trains would stop off for their winter break.

This is an old handcar.


Our tour guide is showing him how to ring an old train bell.


Checking out the train art.


Heading to the caboose.




The only piece of track left intact. Sadly, this train station has not seen a train in over ten years.



We also took a field trip to the circus museum. A large part of the circus history was surrounded around the circus trains. There was an entire replica of the Ringling Circus and train. It was highly detailed and very fascinating. I never realized how extensive the circus was in its hay day. Ringling had four locomotives and full trains designated just for transporting the circus. It was a town in and of itself.






What a great way to end a train study! Play trains at the beach!