Polar Express Ideas for Preschool Party Time!

Are you looking for Polar Express ideas for preschool because The Polar Express is your favorite movie? My favorite Christmas movie of all time is the Polar Express. (Like, I love it so much that my husband booked us a trip to go on a Polar Express train for our first anniversary!) So, now, I am prepared to make it my kids’ favorite movie too…by throwing amazing Polar Express viewing parties!

Seriously, these parties are so much fun for the kids and they’re so much fun to plan as well! Here’s some fun Polar Express Ideas for Preschool to plan your own party!

1 Create your own trains to watch the movie in!

Repurpose your diaper and wipe boxes by making a train for your toddler!

To make our trains, I covered the boxes with black construction paper. Then, I added a styrofoam bowl that I painted yellow for the light. The wheels are circles cut out of orange construction paper.

Image shows a tunnel made of rainbow colors with 2 box trains in front and 2 girls in Christmas pajamas. DIY trains are the perfect Polar Express Party activities. — Be sure to include these DIY trains in your polar express party activities! Your toddler will love watching the movie from their own train!

If I were to do it again, I’d probably paint the whole thing or find black wrapping paper to save time!

When it was time to watch the movie, all the kids sat in their train box, and ate their snacks. THEY LOVED IT!

2 Make Candy trains

This was a fun activity for the kids to do during our party! This was definitely a favorite (not sure if it was because of the fun or because of the candy!).

Image shows a train made from graham crackers and another picture with oreos on the train as wheels and a girl holding an oreo. These make the perfect Polar Express party snacks! — If you’re looking for the perfect Polar Express party snacks, look no further than these build-it-yourself candy trains!

I pre-made the trains using graham crackers and icing so that they would have time to harden and be sturdier. I put candies in muffin tins (I love the ones at the dollar tree because they’re half muffin tins!) for the kids to use to decorate their trains. We used oreos for the wheels, twizzlers, marshmallows, m&ms, fruit loops, and kisses. This is a great activity to clean out your pantry and your Halloween bins.

3 Play with a Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin

Image shows a table with a snowman and a hot chocolate sensory bin. Bin has cocoa puffs and marshmallows. Scoops are beside it. — This hot chocolate sensory bin is the perfect activity to include in your Polar Express party!

You know I love a good sensory bin, and this one did not disappoint! This hot chocolate sensory bin is very easy to set up! Just mix together cocoa puffs and marshmallows, add some scoops and cups, and let your toddlers enjoy making some hot chocolate! Seriously, such an easy sensory bin to set up! (And while you’re prepping your sensory bin, go ahead and download my free sensory bin guide and read my blog about sensory bins!)

4 Get your tickets ready

One of my favorite scenes, when I was a kid, was seeing the tickets be hole punched. So, of course, I had to make sure there were tickets to attend the movie.

Image shows a gold ticket with the letter B on it made of circles. These polar express party tickets are a great way to incorporate fine motor skills with your toddlers. — Are you looking for Polar Express party tickets for your preschoolers? Try this dot marker activity!

We did this dot marker activity to create our tickets! The older toddlers can use dot markers to fill in each circle, and younger toddlers can use dot stickers! These are great Polar Express Ideas for Preschool to incorporate some fine motor skills!

Get your Tickets here!

5 Fix some hot chocolate

Hot Chocolate! Oooooh we got it! I had this hot chocolate bar set up already as part of my Christmas decor so we included it in our Polar Express party. I made some hot chocolate in the crockpot so that we could sip on hot chocolate all day!

Image shows white bins with marshmallows, peppermint spoons, lollipops, and candies. Hot chocolate in crockpot is to the right. A hot chocolate bar is the perfect addition to your Polar Express Party! — Make Hot Chocolate in crockpot to complete your Polar Express Hot Chocolate Bar!

My favorite way to drink hot chocolate is with a peppermint stick and marshmallows! Yum!

If your toddlers are younger and you’re not sure you want to give them hot chocolate, you could always serve chocolate milk!

Another fun way to incorporate some hot chocolate fun is with this counting activity! Let your toddlers add the correct number of “marshmallows” to each mug of hot chocolate!

Image shows 2 paper mugs. One has the number 3 on it and the other has the number 5 on it. They have white pom poms on top to represent whipped cream. This is a great Polar express activities preschool kids will love! — This hot chocolate counting activity needs to be included in your polar express activities preschool aged kids will love!

6 And, another Polar Express Idea for preschool: Color matching Train

Another fun activity to include in your Polar Express viewing party! My toddlers love sorting things by color, and they loved helping to build this train! Such an easy activity to prep!