Dig out your wooden toy train tracks!

It’s time to get thinking about lines and shapes.

There was a time when wooden train tracks wrapped themselves from the playroom, straight into the kitchen, and back again.

And guess what?

I kinda miss that. I miss tripping on tracks. I guess in the same fashion that I will also miss stepping on LEGOS. (well, maybe…)

Find the stash of wooden tracks for your next Breakfast Invitation!

RELATED: Looking for easy ideas at home with kids? This list will help!

Can you build it? 

This is a powerful question for problem-solving.

It forces your child to think beyond a basic question and form a plan.

When your child forms a plan, they are examining what is in front of them, hypothesizing a solution, and challenging their thinking to attempt the task in front of them.

These thinking opportunities will help children throughout their entire life!

As parents and teachers, we can get caught up in letter and number recognition. I challenge you to take a step back and spend the majority of your time providing Breakfast Invitations and other opportunities to problem solve.

RELATED: Like activities like this? You will love to Fill the Empty Space.

These wooden train tracks also help with writing!

Wait. How could that be true?

Each wooden track is a different line.

Manipulating these tracks allow your child to play around with different line formations.

These are the same line formations that they will also find with letters when it comes to writing.

Letters have:

• straight lines – examples: A, H, K

• tunnels – examples: n

• curves – examples: C, O, S

• both straights and curves – examples: P, Q, D

Line formations with tracks are similar to the line formations with letters!

RELATED: Ideas like this start with simple supplies. See which supplies we like to keep on hand here.

This Breakfast Invitation was so simple to make!

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Now you know me. Most Breakfast Invitations begin with the white paper roll! It is one of my most important supplies for motherhood! You can find the paper roll and other supplies we keep on hand here.

There are just SO many fun activities you can do with a single sheet of paper. In fact, you can view them all here!

Supplies:

 

 

Set this up in a flash!

• Tape your white paper roll to the tabletop.

• I like to use painter’s tape or masking tape.

• Place your wooden tracks in an oval formation.

• Trace your tracks.

• Take the tracks apart.

• Slide your tracks to the left of your paper.

• Invite your child over to put the tracks back together.

• Prompt with the question, “Can you build this?” and watch the thinking take place.

Why place the wooden tracks to the left?

Children read and write from left to right. We can practice now to allow eyes to track from left to right now so it comes naturally down the road.

RELATED: You will love this train track shape building set from Sunny Day Family!