Transform learning with imagination, creativity, active play and MAGIC!
20+ years in Early Years & SEND
Robust and adaptable for every child
Hundreds of Early Years settings enjoy our adventures
Over 200,000 children are on board
Proud to be in Butlin’s
Seen on the hit children’s show
What they say...
“At Buttercups Nursery, our children absolutely love Little Magic Train! The imaginative adventures capture their attention from the very start, and they eagerly follow each story. The repetition of words and phrases is brilliant for supporting their speech and language development—we’ve seen real progress in their confidence to communicate.
They also enjoy exploring all the additional activities and resources that accompany the stories, which help to extend their learning and keep the magic going throughout the day. The recently updated system is fantastic—it’s easy to use, well-organised, and makes planning seamless. We especially love that new stories are continuously added, keeping things fresh, exciting and always full of surprises for the children. Little Magic Train is a truly engaging, fun and educational resource that brings learning to life through movement, storytelling and play. We can’t recommend it highly enough!”
Carol Whitehouse
“We have been using Little Magic Train for the last 2 years. It took a little while for all the adults in both rooms to be brave enough to participate, especially our quieter and shyer members of staff, but once Gina came in and led a session for us, encouraging all the staff to take part, they have all enjoyed it since then. Gina also came in to help the staff with the under 2’s children to find a good way to weave the story into their routines and at their stages of learning.
Gina’s willingness to come in at any time to help support the staff for any reason has been invaluable. We use it both in our under 2’s room and in our over 2’s room. In the over 2’s room we tend to use the adventures as they are given to us. Playing the music, especially for the magic dust and the train getting smaller and bigger, the children’s anticipation of what is happening/going to happen is magical.
It is easy for all the children to participate in the adventures the younger children use the cues and music to follow the adventure and join in. The older children are using more complex mathematical words for big/small and get very excited to change the status of the Magic Train.
We used the polar adventure as our Christmas Play last year, taking the watching parents on a polar adventure. We added our own songs, including sign language for our SEN children. The parents loved the fact all the children were involved in the whole play, not just parts of it. The children entered and left on the train singing as they went in, it was amazing. One of our parents is a scientist and when I gave a pre-Christmas Play explanation of what play we were doing and why, mentioning Myelin, they were very impressed that this was part of the programme and we knew all about it.
We have signed up for the full package that we can use all/any of the adventures that we choose. We have found this extremely good value for money. I would recommend Little Magic Train to everyone. In one session, it covers every area of learning, holding the attention and imagination of all the children, including those with SEND. We were worried about the repetition, but we have found that the children get excited when they hear the music, they know what is coming and are ready for the adventure to begin.”
Nicola Pargeter
“My first experience of Little Magic Train was at Kingfisher School (Abingdon). Gina – the most energetic person I have ever met – delivered fun, engaging and multi-sensory experiences. We would jump on a train and travel to wonderful places like the jungle, the moon and under the sea, all using our imaginations! I saw firsthand the benefit these sessions provided for the children with SEND. Children who may struggle to engage in the classroom environment came to life with these imaginative and sensory experiences.
When I first came to Peachcroft Preschool, I was keen to get Gina to come and deliver her sessions to our children (aged 2-4). The children found the adventures magical and exciting. It was at this point that Gina introduced me to the full package that Little Magic Train has to offer. We have access to such a broad range of resources relating to so many different topics. The resources fit in with our preschool curriculum and influence many different areas of learning.
We were keen to access the training for a member of staff to be able to provide our own Little Magic Train programme. Unfortunately, staffing and other factors have prevented us from being able to get this up and running. We strive to be able to deliver our own Little Magic Train programme in the future, as we have seen the positive impact it can have on children’s learning.”
Rebecca Jones
Here at Marcham Pre-school, we have been using Little Magic Train with the children (aged 2-4) since 2012 and always experience such engagement and joy from all the participants. We have also led sessions within our Partnership with Marcham Primary School and included children aged between 2 and 6.
We particularly enjoy the wide range of ‘adventures’ available that we can explore and find that the extension activities are a useful addition to our curriculum.
The children enjoy the routine of each session and know what to expect. We use the Little Magic Train session to encourage ‘school readiness’ skills by getting changed and practicing taking off, and putting on shoes, etc.
Gina and her team have always been fantastic at providing support, leading ‘sample’ sessions and answering any questions we may have.
We have had an extremely successful experience with Gina and the Little Magic Train…. carrying out sessions over Zoom during lockdown when the schools were closed…. as well as presenting a session during an Ofsted Inspection (and receiving Outstanding!)
Little Magic Train is a versatile, detailed and engaging resource which I would happily recommend to any setting.
Nicky Sanford
I just wanted to drop you a line as we have now gotten our Ofsted report and we maintained our fourth Outstanding. What made this inspection different was how easy the preparation was as the children requested to do The Little Magic Train. We went on a journey to China.
Although the inspector couldn’t praise a particular programme, she did tell us she was blown away by the teaching and this is what she said in the report:
Children flourish and are extremely well cared for in this nurturing environment.
The childminder creates a well-thought-out learning environment that allows
children to submerge themselves in play. The childminder and co-childminder work incredibly well to plan a curriculum to deepen children’s understanding and embed their learning. The childminder ignites children’s imagination as they go on a pretend journey to China to look for pandas. Children spot bamboos and the mountains in the distance. Children recall the name of the mountain as ‘Mount Everest’. When they cannot find the imaginary pandas, they remember they are on the other side of the mountain, in ‘Nepal’. Children practise their physical skills as they pretend to ride on ‘cranes’ to fly to the ‘Great Wall of China’. The childminder weaves mathematical concepts into the activity. She adapts activities and teaching superbly. For example, older children count to five and then count backwards. Younger children consider the concept of fewer and more and use their fingers to display the number.
I think it clearly shows that we used the Search For Pandas adventure and it definitely played a part in us receiving our fourth outstanding grade.
Our children love The Little Magic Train. It is so easy to adjust for different next steps and to weave a story around the learning that the children love and get excited about. They have some ownership over their learning as they choose where to go in China and some of our little ones also act it out at home. It has been a great success in our setting.
Thank you
Marion Walker
“The little magic train is a wonderful piece of work, it encourages the imagination to bloom, using lovely material, music, and props to entertain and engage those little minds. We at Nanna Maggs Childcare are and will be using this model to encourage independent play through use of language and imagination. Toot, toot! Beautifully put together and enables us to adapt our settings to encourage a delivery of education, language, literature, and music.”
Zoe Lawton
“Outstanding! The Little Magic Train sessions offer such great value for money and have added an extra dimension to our Early Years provision. Not to mention, the children absolutely love the trips to see the dinosaurs or into outer space!
Gina has such an infectious personality and delivers the training with so much passion & energy, you can’t help but be inspired to do the same with the children. Would definitely recommend!”
Ryan Harris
“The children adore our weekly Little Magic Train sessions. As a setting, we are ‘fully onboard’ with the ethos of the programme and as a result, it is firmly entrenched into our weekly routine. The Little Magic Train has not only captured the imagination of the children but has helped to improve so many of their skills, especially their physical literacy.
The support offered by this programme is outstanding, you can tap into their extensive knowledge at any time. It evolves with you and new ideas are added frequently. We have never come across a company that offers such amazing ongoing support before and truly cares about its end user.
The greatest endorsement for us is that the children use The Magic Train during their imaginative play. It is their own idea to include Simon to take them on adventures. They often create him with loose parts, climbing frames, sheets, and boxes or just include him in their stories.
When learning is so much fun it’s no wonder, they enjoy the journey”.
Claire Nicholls-de-Freitas
“We have had the pleasure of seeing firsthand what an amazing asset Magic Train is going to be to our curriculum and how it can be introduced into our setting, reaching children of all abilities. We have also been amazed at the support that is offered to new settings and the training that was given to staff before we even got going.
Kennington Pre-School cares for children aged 2-4 years, in a mixed room environment, and this can sometimes create challenges when trying to deliver our learning as a setting I was a little confused as to how this could work in a setting like ours, but after speaking to Gina, seeing it in action, looking at the website and the resources provided that all went away.
Magic Train to Us is a fun session mixed with facts and imagination, which allows children to engage with moving around, interesting facts, and is aimed at all levels of pre-schoolers due to its infectious nature.
Children in our setting have looked forward to our sessions and have even gone home to tell their parents about their expeditions to the Amazon and the animals they saw. These experiences are great fun and it’s easy for both Staff and Children to get caught up in the magic it provides.”
Vickie Ward
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