Sorting and Counting with Die-Cast Trains

Do you have a ton of Die-Cast Trains in your house?  My son LOVES Thomas so we do!  Play with an educational twist by sorting and counting with die-cast trains.  

This was an easy activity that was fun for my son as we were using one of his favorite kind of toys.  We used the Thomas & Friends Die-Cast trains for this fun and educational activity (but you could easily swap out to any small toy that you have a large number and variety of).

Materials Needed

• Thomas & Friends Die-Cast Trains 
• Paper
• Marker

Instructions

• Gather up the toy you plan to use – we pulled out our bin with Die-Cast Trains.  
• Ask your child how they would like to sort the trains – Buddy chose to sort by color.
• Have your child tell you the name of the color they are sorting and have them create separate piles of each color.

• After all the trains are sorted have your child count them. 
• Once all the trains are counted have your child tell you which number is largest and smallest.
• Finally enjoy some free play!

I love when I can find fun and educational activities that really interest my son.  Including some of his favorite toys and adding an educational spin was a great way to interest him and keep him involved for a longer period of time.

Take a look below for links to some other great educational activities that use small toys you most likely already have in the house.

Car Parking Lot Preschool Math Grid Game from Life Over C’s

Alphabet Car Wash from Learning 2 Walk

Directionality Activity with Small Cars from Teach Me Mommy

Forest Animals Letter Sounds Activity from Stir the Wonder

Learning Shapes with Toy Cars from Adventures of Adam

What Makes Ice Melt Fastest from Raising Little Superheroes

Fun DIY Phonics Game from Mum in the Madhouse

What Do Animals Eat? Classification Activity from Schooling a Monkey

Color Mixing with Toy Cars from The Kindergarten Connection

AM and PM Time Telling with Shopkins from Sugar Aunts

Sorting Animals Venn Diagram Activity from Mom Inspired Life

Hands-on Way to Learn Letter Sounds from School Time Snippets

Fairies & STEM Activities: Gardening with Kids from Edventures with Kids

Name & Letter Practice: A Painting With Toy Car Activity from Play Dough & Popsicles

Learning Letters & Reading With Cars! from Preschool Powol Packets

Shopkins Sorting from Still Playing School