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Thomas the Tank Engine Shoebox Train
Thanks so much to Tamara (and her son William) for sending in this idea!
Materials:
 | 1 large shoebox |
| 1 small shoebox (i.e. for toddler size shoes) |
| Paint: blue, red, black, yellow, gray[made by mixing black and white] (we used washable watercolors and it took several |
| coats with drying time between each one to get good coverage. There is probably an easier way to do it than we did---a
different kind of paint that would coat better but we just used what we had on hand) |
| Glue (we used tacky glue) |
| toilet paper roll |
| Yellow foam and/or circle/rectangle foam shapes |
| large wiggly eyes |
| Leanne's templates from the Thomas paper craft: face and bumper
(see below) |
| scissors |
| (optional) thin doweling (we used 3/16") |
| (optional) 3" round woodsies (size can be adjusted/changed to fit the relative size of your train) |
| (optional) drill and drill bit (and adult assistance on this part of course!!) |
| (optional) use the template from Wendy for the wheels. |
Note: Might help to have a picture or model of Thomas on hand to refer to regarding details of decoration.
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Thanks to Wendy for sharing these photos!
Wendy Said:
"I spray painted the boxes then used a salt container (that I just happened to finish that very week) and enlarged the Thomas Craft on your site. I also added 3 black circles to the sides and a #1 out of
foamies." (see below)
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Instructions:
1. Paint the shoeboxes mostly blue; the front of the large box and
the lid of the small box should be black as well as the toilet paper
roll. Let dry. Repeat as many times as necessary to get desired
coverage.
2. Glue the small shoe box to the top back end of the large shoebox lid
so it resembles the general form of the train with the driver
compartment at the back end.
3. Cut small slits (4 should do it) around one end of the toilet paper
roll so they fold out easily. Apply glue to the flaps and position it in
front of the drive compartment on top of the large box.
4. Paint a black circle inside two yellow foam circles leaving a yellow
border around the edge. Glue to the small box on either side of the
smokestack.
5. Paint a black rectangle inside two yellow foam rectangles leaving a
yellow border around the edge. Glue to the small box on the right and
left edges.
6. I also rough free cut two small whistle pieces out of yellow foam and
glued them between the two round windows behind the smoke stack.
7. Print out the template from the Thomas paper craft and paint the face
gray. Glue two large wiggly eyes where the eyes are and glue the whole
face to the front of the large box.
8. Refer to a picture or model of Thomas to help you in painting the red
stripes and yellow #1 to either side and the back.
(you can stop here or if you are really ambitious like us and your child
is intensely interested in trains like my son is, you can go on and add
wheels as follows)
9. Poke 3 aligned holes along the bottom edge of either side of the
large box and insert a doweling in each one as an axel. You may
need to clip the doweling down to size, leaving only 1/2"-1"
sticking out each side.
10. Drill a hole the size of the doweling through the center of 6 round
woodsies. Paint them black and let dry. Once dry, apply glue around the
opening and place one wheel on each end of the dowelings. Let dry.
11. Color or paint the bumper template as Leanne directs in the Thomas
paper craft, cut out and glue to the bottom front edge of the train.
Possible variations: by using the Percy or James template and changing
the paint colors and decorations, you could make some of Thomas' friends
instead or as well. Also, I have a rough idea in my head of how this
might resemble Thomas a bit more if we had used something like a round
oatmeal container for the front or part of it anyway to be more rounded
like Thomas. But I havenąt tried it. If someone else does, Iąd love to
see how it turns out.
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Click here for images
of the train made by
Scotty and Tristan.
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Templates:
Face and Bumper
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Wheels
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n/a
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