Toy Decisions: Thomas Toys

Raise your hand if you would love to have someone break down which is the right type of toy to buy, instead of slowly collecting the wrong ones. Take trains for example. There are hundreds of choices and how do you make the choice of what to buy. Parent Talk member Joanna Noon shares her take on Thomas the Train toys, including which tracks work with which trains. Here is an excerpt of her post, perfect for anyone trying to weed through the maze of train options available. 

Eighteen months ago, drowning in a basement flooded with trains and trying to keep my toddler boys entertained, I wrote an email to a close friend and fellow mom asking for HELP with all things Thomas the Tank Engine. Her response was thorough and useful and became the jumping-off point for me to figure out how to manage this phenomenon in my own household. Here’s are the highlights of what I’ve learned:

1. If you want to build an expansive train and track collection, go WOODEN ONLY! (You'll see our rationale in a minute.)

Tracks:
All the wooden train tracks from different brands fit together--some better than others, but they are all at least sufficiently compatible! This makes it so easy to add to your collection relatively cheaply, and as long as grandparents and other present-givers know to seek out wooden tracks, they don't have to worry about finding specific brands. Wooden train tracks are easy to spot, of course, but here are some images to give you a picture of what to look for:

To read the rest of the article, click here, to visit Toy Savvy, Joanna's new blog about all things toy related.