Trains o.k. for a 15 month old?

[duvie]

Like many other kids, DS loves wheels. We are not quite ready to take the whole train set plunge, but I would like to get him a train or two (preferably with magnets).

Would you be worried about small parts coming off with the Thomas, Brio or Maxim trains? I am leaning towards the latter two since
I find Thomas to be a little bit creepy. Maybe it's because I got a pull-back James and his eyes go back and forth when he moves forward!

[winifredzb]

If you live near an Ikea they make a great wooden train set for a very reasonable price. You might want to check it out -- we did this before buying other trains just to see if the girls really wanted a train set.

[brittone2]

Ditto that. We started w/ the Ikea set around 12-15 months and added on from there. I don't worry too much about DS getting things in his mouth because he's usually been pretty cautious that way, but obviously each parent has their own judgement call on those issues, kwim?

Early on it is pretty challenging to keep the trains on the tracks but DS still enjoyed pushing the trains around (as he would with a toy car for example) and his train love grew from there ;)

[mommato2boys]

I great way to pick up trains (thomas though) is at acmoores with a 40% coupon!!!! Great price!!! HTH

[duvie]

Ooooh- I looked at the Ikea website and love the set! (very inexpensive too). Sadly, they don't offer it on-line and we are two hours from an Ikea. :(

I will check to see if our Michael's has Thomas to buy with the 40% coupon...but, as I said, I'm not too sure about him!

[teddy]

My 14 month old DS is fascinated with his battery powered Brio engine. He watches it go around the track. Yes, he does pick it up off the track and tries to put it back on. No, he doesn't get it back on the track yet, but one day soon, right? It also runs on the carpet really well. He also likes feeling the wheels move on their own. The Brio engine has buttons he can press to make it go forward, backward, and turn off. So far, he's been having a lot of fun with it.

[kijip]

>Ooooh- I looked at the Ikea website and love the set! (very
>inexpensive too). Sadly, they don't offer it on-line and we
>are two hours from an Ikea. :(
>
>I will check to see if our Michael's has Thomas to buy with
>the 40% coupon...but, as I said, I'm not too sure about him!

LOL. Thomas creeped me out too...trains are not supposed to have faces. But there is no fighting him around here. Toby saw a Thomas item at preschool and I swear a chip was downloaded into his brain containing all of the information about all Thomas related items. I buckled and now he is the proud owner of an assortment of Thomas books, DVDs, coloring books, trains engines and cars, Thomas underpants (yes, Thomas is on my kid's butt) and a set of freaking Thomas straw cups that he requests by chirping "Thomas cup, thomas cup". Yikes. But I had to save my battles to fight Elmo ;).

It's not all bad---some of the trains are sort of cute once you get to know them LOL. And, the train cars are pretty good quality.

[duvie]

LOL about the cups and Thomas-butt. All is well as long as YOU don't have matching undies :)