Preschool and Pre‑K Train Activities
After reading Rally Takes the Train, young children can explore about 650 train and railway museums through our free guides, discovering real trains, stations and the stories behind them. These six free, play-based activities for preschool, Pre-K and TK carry that curiosity into play, with a simpler version for 3s, a stretch for 4s and TK, and printables that need no reading or writing.
Need the book? Get the paperback on Amazon (opens in a new tab) or earn a free classroom copy.
Why teachers use these lessons
Play first
Sorting a suitcase, a station dramatic play center, ramp races and a class train museum let children learn by doing.
Early literacy and math
Rhyme, syllable clapping, counting to 5 with one-to-one correspondence and sorting by kind.
Feelings and courage
Children name Rally's feelings and practice a brave step in a blanket tunnel with a flashlight.
Preschool & Pre-K lessons
Pack Rally's Suitcase: Sorting and Counting to 5
A free, 30-minute preschool and Pre-K math lesson where children help Rally the Corgi pack.
Choo-Choo Chant: Rhyme and Syllable Clapping
A free, 30-minute preschool and Pre-K phonological awareness lesson.
Brave Like Rally: Naming Feelings
A free, 30-minute preschool and Pre-K social emotional lesson.
Ramp Races: What Makes a Train Go?
A free, 30-minute preschool and Pre-K/TK science lesson where children find out what makes a toy train go.
All Aboard! Train Station Dramatic Play
A free, 35-minute preschool and Pre-K/TK lesson that turns your dramatic play area into a train station.
Our Class Train Museum
A free, 40-minute preschool and Pre-K/TK lesson where children build a pretend train museum.
A ready-made train unit
Day 1: Pack Rally's Suitcase (P1). Day 2: Choo-Choo Chant (P2). Day 3: Brave Like Rally (P3). Day 4: Ramp Races (P4). Day 5: All Aboard station play (P5), then build Our Class Train Museum (P6) and invite families to visit.
Each lesson's Discover step reads a verified museum guide, one the museum itself has approved, and ends with a Keep exploring question. The unit then opens out into about 650 free train museum guides and, if you can, a field trip to a verified museum.
How every lesson works
From storytime to real trains
Read the story aloud with planned stops, wonder about it together, discover a verified museum guide, then create with a printable, a build or play. A Keep exploring question sends children into the museum guides afterward.
Built for real classrooms
Materials a classroom already has, support and extension ideas, sentence frames for multilingual learners, and a 3-level check you can mark while you circulate.
Teach it with the real book
4.9 stars on Amazon
Rally Takes the Train is a rhyming, hand-painted picture book about a corgi's first train ride, from the big station stairs to a dark tunnel to the people waiting at the end of the line. Children ask for it again and again, and every lesson here is built on its pages.
Questions teachers ask
What are good train activities for preschool?
Good preschool train activities are short and hands-on: sorting things to pack for a trip, clapping the syllables in train words, rolling toy trains down ramps, playing conductor and passenger at a pretend station, and building a class train museum. Each activity here includes steps, printables and the Head Start ELOF domains it supports.
How long should whole-group time be in preschool?
Keep whole-group time short and move into small groups or centers for the hands-on part. Each preschool train activity keeps whole-group time to about 15 minutes, in short parts with a stretch or movement game between them, then moves to small groups of 3 to 6 at a table, ramp center or play station. Full activities run 30 to 40 minutes, and the class museum can be spread over two days.
How do I set up a transportation theme week in preschool?
Use the five-day plan on this page: Pack Rally's Suitcase, Choo-Choo Chant, Brave Like Rally, Ramp Races and All Aboard station play, then build Our Class Train Museum and invite families to visit. Keep the station play center open all week, and read the same book each day with a new purpose so children build vocabulary and retell the story.
What are hands-on math activities for a preschool train theme?
Packing and rolling make math concrete. In Pack Rally's Suitcase, children sort picture cards into toys, clothes and snacks, then count up to 5 real items into a suitcase and say how many. In Ramp Races, they compare how far toy trains roll from a low and a high ramp using the words farther and closer, with tape marks on the floor.
How do you build early literacy skills with a picture book in preschool?
Read the same book several times, teach new words directly, and play with sounds out loud. In Choo-Choo Chant, children finish rhyming lines from Rally Takes the Train and clap syllables in words like sta-tion and lo-co-mo-tive. Every activity teaches three to five vocabulary words with kid-friendly definitions, and children are never asked to guess words from pictures.
How do you teach social emotional skills to preschoolers with a story?
Let children study a character's feelings first, then practice a skill themselves. In Brave Like Rally, children name excited, scared and happy from Rally's faces, learn three calming tools (a big breath, holding a hand or hugging yourself, looking for the light), then choose how to go through a blanket tunnel with a flashlight. Watching or holding the light also counts as brave.
What are easy STEM activities for a preschool transportation theme?
Ramps and toy trains are an easy start. Build a low ramp and a high ramp from blocks and a board, let children release a train from the top, and mark where it stops with tape. The Ramp Races activity uses this setup and supports the Head Start ELOF domain Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry, with a picture sheet that needs no writing.
How do you support multilingual learners in preschool activities?
Make meaning clear with pictures, objects and gestures before you ask children to use new words. Each preschool train activity teaches key words in English and the home language, accepts pointing or gestures as full answers, and gives a simple frame like "I feel ___." Each also names a WIDA key language use, Narrate, Inform or Explain, to guide language goals.
Do these preschool train activities work for Pre-K and TK?
Yes. Every activity labels a simpler version for 3s and a stretch for 4s and TK, so one plan serves a mixed-age room. For example, 3s sort into two groups and count to 3 while 4s and TK sort three groups and count to 5. For older children ready for more, the kindergarten train lessons are at /lessons/kindergarten-train-lesson-plans.
Are the preschool train printables free?
Yes. All printables are free PDFs in color, ink-saver and A4, with no account needed, for classroom and homeschool use. They use watercolor art from the book and need no reading or writing from children. Words on cards are printed small for the adult to read aloud, and any writing, such as museum labels, is dictated to an adult.
Which Head Start ELOF domains do the preschool train activities cover?
Together the six activities cite Mathematics Development (Counting and Cardinality; Measurement), Literacy: Phonological Awareness, Language and Communication (Expressive Language; Receptive Language), Social and Emotional Development (Emotional Functioning; Relationships with Other Children), and Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry. Each activity lists only the one or two sub-domains it both teaches and checks, so you can copy them into your plans.
How much prep do the preschool train activities need?
Each activity needs about 5 to 15 minutes of prep. The rhyme chant takes about 5 minutes to print and cut cards. The suitcase sort, ramps, tunnel and class museum take about 10 minutes each. The train station takes about 15 minutes to set chairs in rows, make a ticket booth and cut tickets, and it can stay up all week.
What materials do I need for preschool train activities?
Mostly classroom basics: blocks, tape, crayons, chairs and a table. You will also want a suitcase, backpack or shoebox with a few real items to pack, toy trains or cars that roll well, a board or cardboard for ramps, a blanket and a flashlight for a tunnel, and a cap for a conductor hat. Families may lend toy trains for the class museum, but it is optional.
Do the preschool train activities include a family note in Spanish?
Yes. Every preschool activity includes a family note in English and in Spanish. The note tells families what their child did that day, such as sorting and counting to 5 or naming feelings, and gives one 5-minute idea to try at home. It also points families to the free coloring pages at rallytakesthetrain.com/coloring-pages.
How do the preschool train activities support children with IEPs?
Each activity has a support version you can match to a child's goals. Ideas include real objects instead of cards, counting with the child's hand in yours, two choices instead of an open question, clapping hand over hand, and accepting pointing as an answer. Roles like holding the flashlight or watching first let every child take part in their own way.
Can I do the preschool train activities without the book?
Partly. The printables use the book's watercolor pictures, so sorting, rhyme cards, feelings faces and station play all work from the cards alone, and the museum guides stand on their own. The read-aloud parts do need the book. Credentialed Pre-K to 2nd grade teachers in the US can get a free paperback classroom copy by reviewing one lesson plan. They apply at rallytakesthetrain.com/free-book-for-teachers. The book is also in paperback on Amazon.
Are the preschool train activities safe for 3-year-olds?
They are planned for 3-year-olds, and each activity has its own safety note. Every real object must be too big to fit through a toilet paper tube opening, snacks stay on picture cards, ramps are no more than three blocks high, and toy trains have no small parts or loose magnets. Use battery flashlights with secure covers, keep the tunnel short and open with an adult beside it, and keep the hole punch with an adult.
Is Rally Takes the Train a good book for preschool?
Yes. It is a short rhyming story about Rally the Corgi's train trip, with clear feelings children can name: excited at the station, scared in a dark tunnel and happy at the end. The rhymes on every page support phonological awareness, and the hand-painted watercolor pictures by Leslie Dunn give children plenty to talk about during repeated readings.
How do the preschool train activities connect to real train museums?
Each activity's Discover step shares a guide from a verified museum, such as the Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul or Steamtown National Historic Site, which the museum itself has approved. Afterward, children can keep exploring about 650 free train museum guides at rallytakesthetrain.com/train-museums. The guides are written for adults, so read ahead and share short parts and photos. To visit or write to a museum, the field trip planner lists more than 70 verified museums.
Can preschool teachers get a free copy of Rally Takes the Train?
Yes, if they qualify. Credentialed Pre-K to 2nd grade teachers in the US can get a free paperback classroom copy by reviewing one lesson plan. They apply at rallytakesthetrain.com/free-book-for-teachers. Early childhood teachers can qualify with a CDA credential, a state early childhood teaching permit or an ECE degree, plus at least 2 years of classroom teaching and a current Preschool to 2nd grade class at a US school, Head Start or licensed program.
More for your classroom
Looking for Kindergarten? See kindergarten train lesson plans and activities. Ready to keep exploring? Browse about 650 free train museum guides, or plan a visit with the field trip planner. Free coloring pages are at Rally coloring pages.