My 22-month-old granddaughter is obsessed with trains right now. I didn’t have any train activities, so I decided it was time to create some. I was able to quickly prepare some great educational train activities using Spielgaben educational toys and free printables.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Spielgaben. All opinions are honest and my own. This post also contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
In case you’re not familiar with Spielgaben toys, they are exceptionally high-quality educational toys designed for ages 3-12. You can see from the photo that the cabinet is very high quality and fits in well in a room with traditional Montessori materials. I love the new, easily removable drawers in version 4. The yarn balls from the 1st Spielgaben set can be used with babies and toddlers, too.
The Spielgaben complete set comes with over 700 pages of full-color printed learning materials. These printed materials help you as a parent or teacher easily use Spielgaben toys educationally with your child and/or students.
Spielgaben Materials Used in the Train Activities
For these activities, I used the yarn balls from Spielgaben set #1, cubes from Spielgaben set #3, and wooden dots (points) from Spielgaben set #10. Note: The yarn balls are fine for babies and toddlers. The cubes and wooden dots should only be used with ages 3 and older unless your toddler no longer mouths objects or you are constantly supervising your toddler during an activity using the materials.
Color Matching with Trains and Yarn Balls
For the color matching activities, I didn’t use free printables. I used two printables that came with my Spielgaben sets. They’re both from the Worksheet Set 1, just different editions. (Note: the brown train printable is from Version 1, and it’s been discontinued). All the activities here use Multicraft trays.
For the layouts, Zoey used a Montessori Services small work rug.
Pattern Trains
Number Train 1-7
This number train activity can be used for toddlers who don’t mouth objects or preschoolers. It uses the free number train printable (printed at 45%) from Bubbles and Bobbins. For preschoolers, I included a Montessori Services toast tong for the wooden dot transfer. For toddlers, I recommend using fingers alone, which makes a great fine-motor activity, too. Instead of a toast tong, I also like adding quick sticks to an activity like this to include a practical life transferring activity with the wooden dots. I used the natural wood color to make the dots look like logs (maybe?). I have a second container ready to rotate with red wooden dots to look like barrels (maybe?). But whatever the dots represent, it’s an activity Zoey should love. (She hasn’t seen this one yet.)
Number Trains for Counting, Skip Counting, or Odd and Even
The free number trains printable from 123 Homeschool 4 Me is very cool. You can use it for toddlers through 1st graders. Here are the suggested uses and levels from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.
- Counting 10- (PreK)
- Counting 1-20 (PreK/K)
- counting 1-30 (K)
- Counting 1-50 (K/1st)
- Counting 1-100 (1st)
- Counting by 2s (1-10 K / 1-100 1st)
- Counting by 5s (1-50 K /1 –100 1st)
- Counting by 10s (1-50 K /1 –100 1st)
- Odd Numbers (1st)
- Even Numbers (1st)
For Zoey, I printed out the train cars 1-10. I used the activity for one-to-one correspondence, where she placed one wooden cube on each train car. Then she counted the cubes. An older child could use the Spielgaben wooden dots for the skip counting activities or odd and even activities.
With these printables alone, I’ll probably keep Zoey train-happy for quite awhile. (But I found too many awesome printables to stop here. I’ll be coming up with some more activities. I’ll just save those for a later time.)
Note: Here’s the link to my favorite laminator … inexpensive and great for almost any activity that needs to be laminated!
My Previous Spielgaben Posts:
Most of these include links to free printables! My original Spielgaben review includes examples of Montessori-inspired activities as shown in the collage above.
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities Using Wooden Toys and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Math Activities Using Wooden Beads and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Geometry Activities Using Wooden Shapes and Free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities Using Spielgaben Yarn Balls and Free Printables
Montessori Monday – Geometric Solid Dressing, Wrapping, and Gift Giving (and Receiving)
Using Montessori-Inspired Activities for Elementary-Level Learning
Are Spielgaben Educational Toys Worth the Price?
Montessori-Inspired Age and Birthday Learning Activities
Montessori-Inspired Math Activities Using Cubes and free Printables
Montessori-Inspired Activities for Babies and Toddlers Using Yarn Balls
Montessori-Inspired Activities Using Spheres {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Sphere, Cube, Cylinder Activities {Free Printable}
Montessori-Inspired Phonics Activities Using Dots {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Christmas Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Color Games {Free Printables}Montessori-Inspired Valentine Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Rainbow Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Easter Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Color Activities for Toddlers {Free Printables}
Montessori-Inspired Summer Activities with Spielgaben {Free Printables}
Toddler Fine-Motor Activities with Spielgaben
Montessori-Inspired Addition Activities Using Dots {Free Printables}
UPDATE:
VERSION 4 OF SPIELGABEN EDUCATIONAL TOYS
I highly recommend Spielgaben as an amazing educational material for home or school. Even though the toys aren’t inexpensive, they’re definitely worth the price because of the high quality of materials and number of years your children or students can use them.
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Great post – I’m fascinated by the Spielgaben materials
One of the best way of teaching for kids.
These materials look awesome! Thanks for sharing and linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop!