Talk to me about train tables

[serendipity]

I was thinking about buying one for DS who will be 16 months at Christmas.

Do you find they contain the mess a bit? Do your kids use it if you have one?

I would love to be able to contain some of the smaller toys, especially since our living room will be full of toddler toys and newborn stuff come April.

I saw one in the Walmart Black Friday ad (gasp) for $40. Figured I may give it a try for that price, but was curious to know if the even get played with.

[trizzie]

When DS was two we bought the one that had everything attached and a lid to go on it. I can't remember the brand. It was nice and suited our purpose at the time. when he was about 4, we got the Melissa and Doug set where he can put them together and take them apart and rebuild them. That was awesome and he loved it, but it is definitely for an older child.

[justbecause]

We have one. DH kept setting up the track like the box. The kids kept destroying it. Now it's mostly used for cars and trucks . My boys are 3 and 18 months.

[quesyrah]

We got one when DS was 2. He was obsessed with trains and could spend hours playing on the one at the kids museum. He rarely played with the one we bought. It was just taking up space so we got rid of it. I know 3 other families who had the same thing happen.

He will still zero right in on train tables at stores/kids museum though. I guess having it everyday just lost it's appeal

[dizzycooks]

I got dd one for Christmas this year. I found it at a garage sale so it was a cheap purchase. I figure if it doesn't get used I'll pass it along, but I like that it can contain the mess a bit.

[jensriot]

DS is getting one for Christmas. I'm considering gluing down the track because he loves to play with the trains, but gets upset when the track moves around.

[jensriot]

Oh, I got an Imaginarium one from Toys R Us that comes with tracks and trains. We're starting from scratch.

[Kcthepouchh8r]

I have that one from Walmart and it's still going strong two years later. I feel like the kids didn't use it for the trains for very long but dd uses it to play with her dolls/play sets all the time.

[usm]

Nov 13, 2014 11:17:22 GMT -5 jensriot said:

Oh, I got an Imaginarium one from Toys R Us that comes with tracks and trains. We're starting from scratch.

We got that one 2 years ago when DS1 was 2. He still plays with it most days. We have a bin underneath that holds the pieces that aren't in use. Sometimes it's completely cleared and used as a race track, other times it's set up like when he got it. Just keep the directions for laying out the track somewhere safe.

[fintin]

Bought one a couple years ago for ds. Complete waste of money. DH secured the set on the table and it was in tact for 1 month before another kid tore it apart. Ds never played with it again.

[m1and1m]

It's the best toy purchase I've made. I bought ours at a garage sale and it came with a bunch of trains that we never used, but the table itself is awesome. DD uses it for all sorts of things (except trains...) like art projects, school work, Legos, you name it.

[eaglesfan]

We got the kidkraft one that is for trains on one side and Legos on the other. By the time we bought it he was only really into Legos, but I wished we had gotten it earlier. It would have been a great setup for storing trains and tracks when he was into that

[m1and1m]

Nov 13, 2014 18:52:21 GMT -5 eaglesfan said:

We got the kidkraft one that is for trains on one side and Legos on the other. By the time we bought it he was only really into Legos, but I wished we had gotten it earlier. It would have been a great setup for storing trains and tracks when he was into that

I just added base plates to one side of DD's table. I got them fairly cheap on CL ($50 vs $98), and attached them with high strength spray adhesive. Her table is perfectly sized to fit them with 1/2" uncovered on the edges so it still sits securely when it's on the chalkboard side. I did have the use my Dremel to cut out a circle over the hole used to pick up the wood to turn them over, but all in all it took me about 2 hours and that included sanding down the tops (water damage made it uneven) and drying time.

Seriously, best purchase ever. It's it years more usefulness ahead of it.