Train set or table?

[aimee-lou]

Hi all,

I live in the world's smallest house with 3 small boys. I really want to get them all a wooden train set (big proper one) for Christmas and I'm tempted to g all out and get the table for it too.....problem is having never seen one of these in the flesh before I'm worried it will be too big for our rooms. It would live in the main play area but that is already full. Having said that, we could probably take a couple of larger things out and rotate or something. It could possibly go into their bedroom too should we need the downstairs space.

Does anyone have one? Which one? Was it worth the money? Is it imposing?

I know my boys will absolutely love it, but it's whether or not we can put up with something that big lol!

 

[Pingu]

My DS has the ELC Wooden Train Set and Table, he loves it and spends hours playing with his sister. There is a drawer but we find this is too small for all of the track so we have a large plastic tub with a lid underneath. My DS also uses it for all his toy cars, planes etc aswel as a place for building with duplo and playmobil. It has been the best present we have bought him.

It is quite big but we had the chad valley one before and that was abit too small and we found the pictures started to peel away and got watermarked easily. The ELC table looks as good as new still after 9 months

 

[jd83]

We have a train table. It does take up a good chunk of space, but the boys LOVE it, so its worth it. The most annoying thing for me, though, is them constantly taking the tracks apart and then me having to put it all back together. We had a secondhand train table last year before they got this one fro Christmas from their grandparents, and it had the tracks all screwed/glues down. Just thought I'd comment on that, too, in case you thought maybe you'd do that. Don't do it! The tracks get easily broken if they pull on them when they are glued/screwed down. We had so many broken track pieces from them pulling on them. It's definitely a pain to have to keep putting the tracks back where they go (they are still too little to get them all connected the right way), but better having to do that than a bunch of broken tracks.

Anyways, all that to say, yes it is definitely worth the purchase.

 

[kwood]

We have gone the other way. We don't really have room for a train table but still have a ton of track that we store in a big tub (like a 35 litre one and still a few pieces don't fit...opps) We just set up on the carpet and then take it apart at the end of the day and it is then out of sight - he likes building things himself so dosen't mind starting over each time. Also my lo likes tracks that are designed in such a way that he can sit in the middle and push the trains around.

 

[JessdueJan]

We also just have track! Part of the fun for DS1 especially is being able to make a new track everytime he gets it out. It also means that we can add to it on birthdays and Christmas'...new engine sheds, bridges, high track, etc... xx

 

[aimee-lou]

Yeah you see I just don't think I can cope with more track out on the floor. We already have a full big Trackmaster setup which is kept in a big box in their bedroom. It rarely makes it out without someone getting injured by stepping on a piece or Earl/Edward getting in trouble for messing with it without the other's consent. Now Earl is starting full time school in September so the babies will have more time at home without him ruling the roost which he is terrible for, but I still wonder if having a table would be better to keep it contained and leaving the floor for the other child/children to play if they're not interested in playing trains right now.

It's a toughie....but I'll get there.

Thanks for the responses ladies. Interesting you say about it being used for other things too though. Earl asked me this morning for a table to play lego on away from the babies. Maybe it could double up, or I could just get a normal 'activities table' for them to use for everything and anything.

 

[Clara85]

We are the same, have a massive tub of track which boys love ( although building it 5 times a day is really annoying when dh out! ) putting out on the floor which means we can rotate and bring out different things, however I would love a table as I cannot imagine how well the floor will work with a baby crawling about!

If we had the space I would get a table but I can't see where we would fit it

 

[Pearls18]

The ones we looked at were all so massive, particularly toys r us, we went for the chad valley one in argos as it's half the width of most so is a bit more neat. But I have to say he barely uses it, it's just a dumping ground, he much prefers to take the track out of the tub and lay it out on the floor, you get a lot more freedom to make different styles of track that way so I have to say it wasn't a resounding success for us.

 

[aimee-lou]

MarineWAG - I looked at the Argos one but the reviews were a bit hit and miss. It was probably the one I would get though as my boys aren't too rough with their toys so the complaints about it not being sturdy probably would be ok.

I'm leaning more towards buying them an 'activity table' which there's a few on places like Amazon and such for not very much really (between £50-£80) and then I can get/ask a relative to buy them a wooden train set for Christmas but it would also cover the lego, cars, colouring bases.

Just need to keep an eye on the measurements. I'm currently watching a Melissa and Doug table - seems to tick all the boxes.