Best Toy Train Sets?
Does anyone have any suggestions for the best reasonably priced toy train sets for a 2 yr. old? I like the colors of the Chuggington sets, and the motion of the Geo Trax sets, and the old fashioned wooden look with updated lights and sounds in the Immaginarium set. So, I'm torn on which way to go. I can't figure out which will fit together. Most importantly, I DON'T like the Thomas Trains, but perhaps the train sets are good and I can get trains from another set to work with it?
And what about table vs. floor. Do tables REALLY provide more fun? What are the benefits?
I appreciate any and ALL suggestions!
3 Answers
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I don't know Chuggington but we have had Thomas-compatible wooden sets as well as GeoTrax. The Great Marketing Machine has been telling us as parents that we should prefer the aesthetics and natural quality of wood, so we started with the wooden sets. But they come apart so easily! The towers get knocked over, the track gets bumped and it's frustrating for little ones. That's the reason for the table - it helps the kids reach things without crawling over the track. And it contains the mess. But, it takes up space, and things still get knocked apart.
The wooden sets tend to have a lot of flexibility on how they go together -- too much! The angles would get off and the kids couldn't complete the track. Expect to be the one responsible for building a track, and fixing it every 5 minutes.
For these reasons, I started to notice that although we had a ton of track and accessories, the kids would play with the screwed-down tracks at the toy store with way more interest than our build-your-own set on the floor.
So when my sister had triplets, my husband and I built her a train table and I screwed down all our wooden tracks so it's like the one in the toy store. My father was horrified: "Then they can't build their own tracks!" But in the end I was right - the triplets have played with it for hours and hours for two years now. If it wasn't permanently screwed down, it would always have been a mess.
As for my family, we switched to GeoTrax, which I recommend. They snap together and stay together and the tracks are either straight or 90 degree turns so the kids can plan their own track. There are interesting accessories and the kids like making deliveries of boxes from one station to another. My son played with them from age 2.5+ and now he is 8 and got them out the other day and built a large setup, which he then played with with his 5 year old sister.
GeoTrax are larger and require the floor and a large bin or two to keep them in.
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We have some handmedown tracks from Brio and, I believe, Ikea. They are wooden and the kids don't have any trouble putting them together. I don't usually think of Ikea when I think of toys but they have a lot of cool kids stuff and the price for basic train tracks (plus bridge, switches, & tunnel) are definitely reasonable ("Lillabo"). Their claim is "Can be used with most other railway systems on the market." so if you need fancy stuff maybe you can supplement elsewhere.
As for table vs floor, we don't have a table, but if we could spare the room for it that would be the way to go. Yes it's harder for the kids to crawl over the tracks, plus we are tripping over pieces, and have to clean it up every night if it's in their bedroom. Clean up is easy because we have a huge tub for everything that fits under the bed, but it makes it hard to save when we make elaborate tracks. One benefit is that we can make more sprawling tracks then if we had to keep it on a table. The tracks actually stay together well enough that a few times I was able to move the whole thing under the bed to play with again next day.
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We started with a generic brand wooden track set - and now I know that it is worth buying the Thomas track or similar. The joints are so much better, making the track smoother. (Avoid the peg w/ a ball on it - go for one piece cut to shape, if that makes sense.)
I think putting the set together is half the fun. For younger ones, only put the pieces out for a large oval unless you're playing with them. For older they sell flexible track to make more complex layouts work - search 'Thomas Wacky Track'. (Also, table wise, it is always nice to save something that will be special at preschool, or at a friends, or just at the toy store.)
There are lots of train engine and car options available that are compatable w/ Thomas (Brio, Ikea, generic - most will say they are compatable on their packaging).
My daughter loves her battery operated engine. I've been looking for a more powerful on to handle the hills better. Is the Brio Big Green Action Locomotive the best? Any opinions out there on this??
