Many people typically generalized that model train toys are only for boys. Model trains are perceived to be mechanical and the word on the street is, only boys love mechanical stuff. Girls only play with dolls and kitchen sets. I admit I was among the guilty ones who had the same misconception.
My eyes opened up one day when I was shopping at a major toy store. The store had a model train section where they have a table setup with wooden train tracks and train sets. Children are welcome to play with the trains.
What I discovered was not only there were boys playing the trains, there were many girls who were just as eager and fighting to play with the trains. Several parents were standing nearby in order to make sure the kids don’t fight over the toy trains. Fights almost broke out on a couple of occasions when two kids wanted to play with a certain engine :-D
The girls who were playing with the trains were just as aggressive. Once they got a hold of the trains, they don’t want to let go. And there was even one who tried to take a train away from another kid!
Kids Fighting
Ok, so obviously I’m not saying it’s good to see kids fighting. And it was a great relief to see parents there to help referee and teach “sharing” lessons while watching the kids play with the train sets.
What that day taught me was, girls enjoy playing with model trains on wooden train track just as much as boys do. Especially with Thomas the engine where they could relate the TV characters with real life play. All the children were enjoying themselves, thinking up great story and role playing the characters as they play.
Today, more and more parents are gravitating towards wooden train sets for their children. Wooden train sets are really a ton of fun and highly educational. Wooden train sets allow children to exercise their creativity and imagination! Moreover wooden toys are generally seen as safer compared to its plastic counterparts. But we’ll get into the safety topic some other time.
Wooden Train Track - Thomas & Friends Water Tower
The wooden tracks are the key components to why these wooden train sets are so fascinating. Even with the very basic sets, you can do wonders with the layouts. I found that out first hand with my 2-year-old daughter when we brought our first set home.
My daughter’s first train set contains very simple track styles. They include several pieces of the following:
- 6” wooden straight track
- 6” wooden curve track
- 4” wooden straight track
The first thing I did was to put together the track exactly like what I read in the instruction sheet and what I saw on the box; thinking that’s how kids can get the most out of the train set. But very soon, I discovered the “default” way of laying out the train track was the last thing on my 2-year-old’s mind.
The next time when we take the train set out to play, I let my 2-year-old do some of the assembly. I was giving her guidance on the side so that the layout would look like what’s shown on the box again. When I had to leave her for a few minutes to do some work in the kitchen, she managed to put all the tracks together in her own way.
Instead of looking like what it’s shown on the box, the tracks are laid out mostly in a straight line, where the two ends do not even meet. Not only did that not deter my daughter from playing with it, she was having a lot more fun. She felt a sense of accomplishment for being able to connect all the track pieces and run her train on top of it!
The moral of the story is, let your kids explore! The wooden train track really allowed my kid to use her imagination to have more fun. I was even taught a lesson, that is our kids might know a few more things than we do 