All Aboard the Shape Train!

I was reading a book of activities for preschoolers and got the inspiration for making a shape train with food.  Big Brother loves trains, so I knew he'd be interested in this project.  You could build just about anything with the shapes (tractors, buildings, cars, flowers, trees, etc). 

I assembled and/or cut various foods up into shapes.  We used a couple of foods he likes to eat (Townhouse crackers and uncooked spaghetti) and some foods he won't try (swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, zucchini, and carrots).  I pointed to and named each of the foods and started to construct the engine.  To my surprise, he jumped in right away (after taking a big bite out of a cracker!) and was quite eager to continue building the train (he usually completely avoids foods on his plate if he's not comfortable with them).

Big Brother constructing his train.

Our finished train.

We didn't use all of the following foods for today's activity, but here are some additional ideas to get you started. 

• Triangles - cheese, bread, crackers, chips, pineapples
• Squares & Rectangles - crackers, graham crackers, celery sticks, bell peppers
• Circles - Cheerios, Oreos, zucchini, chips, bananas, cooked pasta wheels, Melba toast crackers, carrots, apples
• Train car connectors - licorice strips, spaghetti noodles, shredded cheese
• Smoke - marshmallows, blueberries
• Coal - crushed Oreos

What are some other foods that could be used for this activity?  If you do this activity with your child, please share your experience!