So, you have a child who needs something to do. You would like to see the boy or girl learn creativity, so you get them a model train and a loop of track. Now what?
Well, let’s first add scenery: With a little blue paper, you can create sky. A bit of cotton and you have clouds. Take the cotton, paint it green, place it on a small tree branch you picked up from the yard – and you have a tree.
Get some coffee stirrers. Cut them into pieces then glue and paint them – and you have park benches.
Next come buildings then roads. Buildings can be purchased as kits and assembled. But if you have access to a colour printer, you can print buildings. Print each one twice.
Twice, you ask? Yep. You see the first is glued to cardboard and is your backdrop. The second print is cut apart. Remove the windows, doors, and any other raised elements like gutters. Glue these to cardboard and then add them to the original print. There you go – a 3-D building for almost no cost.
Black paint can be used for roads. But I have also seen people use black fine grit sandpaper. These roads look good and have a texture like a real road!
The world of model railroading seems endless. The children can learn about schedules and time tables. You can even help them develop a train schedule and print it out. Put a little clear contact paper on it and it will last several sessions.
Where will the trains stop? How will the engineer know? Yep, time to return to the printer and print station signs and town names. Go crazy.
Name and label the buildings. What about direction signs, road name signs and even advertising billboards. You can be creative too.
What if the child gets a good grade on a test? Well, make a billboard announcing it and secretly place it with a picture of the child’s smiling face on the layout.
Then wait for the magic. Enjoy the smile as the child sees him/herself on the layout. See if they don’t try harder at school or sports to see if more signs appear.
Speaking of school, next time the child comes home having to make a poster as a project, remind them of how they made trees, clouds and even roads, and suggest they do the same for their poster. Viola! Better school grades.
