I've been asked by a pre-school teacher to give a short lesson on trains to a class of 4 and 5 year olds. The class has had firemen, police officers, carpenters, etc. (different occupations) come in and give a short presentation. The teacher knows that I'm a model railroader so she asked me to come in for transportation day and talk about trains. Question - have any of you done anything similar for pre-school or elementary school aged kids? What materials did you use? I primarily model in N with a smattering of HO; however, I wouldn't want to get any of it banged up. I would like the kids to be able to handle (and/or play with) anything I take in. It's not fun unless you get to play with the trains! Any suggestions? I've even thought of buying a few Lionel sized freight cars and snag a few good picture books for them. There may be some future model railroaders in the class! Thanks for the help. "Look Ahead, Look South"
I spent one day a week in my son's kindergarten class, so I can give you some background... This age is high on energy and low on concepts. Firemen drive around in red trucks and put out fires, and sometimes they have a dog with spots. Cops talk about the equipment on their belt and not talking to strangers. Keep to the "rule of fives." That is sentences of no more than five words, with words having no more than five letters. This age kid lives vicariously through a classmate, so if there is a way to pull out one volunteer and do something with them, the whole class will get a charge out of it. No matter what you do, make sure you give them all something to take home, and don't come up short. This can be as easy as a copied off sheet of a coloring book with a train image on it. You might want to check with your local railroad office for some Operation Lifesaver items. Oh, and like everything else in life, your mileage may vary...
How much time have you got? If you have a couple of weeks, I woulsd suggest you contact the AAR at http://www.aar.org and see if the public relations department has any handouts they would furnish. There is a world of difference between model railroading and real railroads (I've been a model railroader for 50 years and a railroader for 40). The message you need to impress on small children is that trains are BIG, and therefore dangerous and while it's fun to play with minature ones, the real ones are very dangerous.
Ed and Gregg are right on the button! A talk was given that I still remember from the 1930's. The man had the full uniform of an engineer (steam) complete to the red neckerchief, gloves, and cap. He had a big poster of a steam engine hung up on the black board, and a conductor's lantern on Miss Wynn's desk. He told us about the real trains, and showed us photos the difference between freight and passenger. He had a whistle he blew into so we could hear the train coming, then he would jump up and ask,"What do we do when we hear that?". We learned we were to STOP, LOOK, & LISTEN. There were some other things. Then he had a box he took out some wooden trains and wood track. He "helped" us put it together on the floor. We chose a partner, and each pair would run the train around one way, then the partner would run the train back to the station (start). Each child got to "run" the train. The last thing we put all the train back in the box, and he blew the whistle again etc etc, Stop etc. then he left. He gave us each a pencil from the Missouri Pacific. (They were free at any station then). Keep it simple, teach them one or two lessons, let them play, give them a small reminder they can use, go home.
Watash, glad you are recovered and back! Listen to what all these guys have said. I made a BIG mistake by thinking that those little kids knew things about WWII, steam engines, etc. It didn't take me long to realize that I was WAY off base with my presento, really aimed at young adults, not little kids. I changed my pitch in midstream, and darned if they didn't all send me thank yous (probably at the insistence of their teacher, who was also young enough to not understand a thing I was talking about). This all happened some time ago, and since then my grandchildren have taught me a lot about what the little ones want to hear.
Find one of hose wood 3-chime whistles and blow that a couple of times . Talk about trains, and if you can throw together a small loop of track with some basic scenery on a board, they will love it . As long as the train is running, they won't touch. Also, give each a turn on the throttle (stick a piece of duct tape at the highest speed you feel comfortable having the train go. Little hands don't work real well yet and it would be easy for them to throw it on top speed and derail the train. While they are taking turns tell them about model trains and big trains. I agree with the other post...make sure they know real trains are nice to watch but from a distance . The coloring book idea is a good one also, because they will take it home and tell their parents about the picture, which will lead them to remember the whole talk. I LOVE talking to kids this age, because they are all ears ( for about 5 minutes anyhow!) I do a lot of school presentations about archaeology.
Ed (10-87) is right on the money. Talk to the folks at www.operationlifesaver.com tell them what your are going to do and they will send you all kinds of goodies to acomplish your mission. They had a booth at GATS and it was a big hit with him and other kinds. They have coloring books, crayons and even a video aimed at that age group. During your presentation, keep yor sentences short and to the point and try to speak on their level, not on ours. (Some adults will always be on their level ) This will be a very rewarding experience for you. Good luck, Andy
A couple of thoughts. First, Operation Lifesaver has good stuff, like coloring books. You might also actually try the local railroad; I remember seeing stuff like this put out by CSX when I was down in Kentucky. If you take some trains with you, go for the "bells and whistles;" the more visual and sound effects, the more they'll pay attention. Finally, even though it's for older kids, talk to somebody from the Boy Scouts about some of the info they have for the Railroading Merit Badge. And really finally, it might be worth thinking that Thomas is always a hit with that age. Best of luck!
Thanks everyone. I'll see what I can pull together with this information. I think a combination of the whistle, safety stuff, a few models to play with (maybe Thomas) and some coloring books from Operation Lifesaver may do the trick. I believe safety will be the key lesson. I always preach to my kids about rail safety. One day, when my oldest was six, he told me his friend's mom drove through crossing gates while a train was coming (both he and his friend were in the car) . Needless to say we never again allow him in a car with her driving!! Point being, kids really do pick up on good and bad messages -- good and bad habits. When I was a kid Southern Railway used to give out promotional stuff to kids. I wish I'd kept those buttons and hats. I'll check to see if there are promo items from the Norfolk Southern or the Indiana and Ohio since both operate within earshot of the school. The class is at the end of this month. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again "Look Ahead, Look South" [ 08 February 2001: Message edited by: Chris McDaniel ]
Chris, it would be a rewarding memory, if your wife or someone, could take a VCR tape of your talk. Mom made an 8mm movie from one front corner of our class room when the Fireman gave us the "Don't Play with Matches" talk. The look of responce on our faces was priceless. VCR would also give sound today, and copies of the tape could be available for the families if desired. I have made a number of copies of home VCRs where they furnish the cassette blank and a copy fee.
if you can find some operation lifesaver stuff too maybe a video or something. kids like action and some video shows crashes and why you dont go out in front of trains. they also like toys and trinkets, if you can get ahold of your local rr they might be able to help you with some stickers, coloring books, and things like that.
How did your Railroad Talk go at the school Chris? Did you make future engineers out of the kids? Tell us about it!
I don't know if there will be any future engineers out of the class, but maybe some safer folks I used some suggestions from the folks on this board. Overall the presentation was about 15 minutes (probably a little less). I used a short video clip from one of my train tapes (VHS) to show the kids some real trains. Then I had a short kids book about the different kinds of train cars. Finally, I passed around some models they could look at and hold along with two coloring pages from Operation Life Saver. Fortunately, the kids had fun. I kept it simple enough that no kid got bored! The one theme I stuck with was "don't play on railroad tracks." Not all trains are loud. My youngest son was in the class and for a week afterwards, he'd tell my oldest not to play on the tracks (not that he would)! I hope the other kids remember something that simple. Overall, it went better than I'd anticipated, thanks to the ideas posted on this board. Chris "Look Ahead, Look South"
