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| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com |
The Little Ones |
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| I had a chance to bring my career or hobby into my granddaughter’s preschool class. I’ve done 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in the past, the 8 to 11 year old crowd. Now I needed to scale it down to 4 and 5 year olds. I visited Jim Armstrong with the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad (CORP) where, among his real railroad duties, he is also their Operation Lifesaver instructor. Jim provided me with a coloring comic book, a large sticker, and a card stock engineer’s cap for each child. I brought along some of my Large Scale trains, including a Lionel Thomas the Tank Engine with Annie and Clarabel, a group of Hartland Locomotive Works’ Value Line 4-wheel cars, and a 20-foot boxcar from Bachmann. I also brought along the snap-together track from the Thomas set (reviewed by MRN during the Christmas season of 2001). These cars were selected to fit two criteria. First, they needed to be simple and second, durable. My objective was a very basic one: since it isn't safe to play with big trains, play with little trains! I arranged the track in a line, but not a straight line. Instead, I pieced together pairs of curves and then joined these assemblies into a back-and-forth running S-curve. For small, preschool children, wooden Brio trains are a good choice and are always popular. Most of these kids had played with that sort of train in the past, but these big, Large Scale honeys exerted tremendous gravitational force on them. The teachers and aides in Vickie’s class are a very professional and caring group who came over to help. Kids this age will grab something and commence a low-level keep-away game if allowed, but the staff skillfully talked them down each time. Miss Vickie knew all of these trains since she plays with them at my house, so she has a certain territorial sense about them, especially Thomas the Tank Engine who was popular with all the kids. With some coaxing, she entered the spirit of sharing. The kids obviously loved the trains, and my message to you is fairly simple: share with the children. Plan to purchase and share some items just for kids. As a model railroader, I’ve learned to share with young people and let them handle some trains. Works every time. |
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| Above: These two fellows are exploring with their hands, and the growth inside their heads is exponential. Right: Vickie and I discuss Thomas and why it would be nice to share him with the other children. Below: This little guy perches in my lap and mugs the camera for a minute before resuming train play. Bottom right: This young man proudly models his Operation Lifesaver engineer’s cap. All photos by classroom teacher Susie Valdes. |
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John Sipple, Editor |
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| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com | |
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