This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fisher-Price for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
When I was a kid, my grandmother had a train set under the Christmas tree. Ever since then, I feel like trains are just a part of Christmas. Now that my son is old enough to appreciate toys like trucks and trains and action figures, my husband and I decided: this year was the year for a train set. Yay!
Except wow… it turns out, it’s actually really hard to choose a train set that’s good for a young age.
My kids are nearly 3 and 5, so it needs to be durable with a sturdy track. It needs to be able to run on its own. If it’s not continuous, if it’s tricky to line up, or if it falls over – then mom and dad sure don’t enjoy it. And finally it needs to be fun right out of the box. Lucky for me, the Thomas & Friends™ TrackMaster™ Shipwreck Rails Set set was a win on all counts. It’s inspired by the movie, Thomas & Friends DVD, Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure, so it’s a great gift set!
I wanted to test it out and share our experience with you guys while there’s still time to pick the set up for your kids for Christmas – so Roman got an early gift. He was a pretty good “helper” while I assembled the track for him!
Now, the track only assembles in one configuration, but the instructions for assembling it were really easy to follow and I got the set together in about 10 minutes. What’s really cool about it is that it climbs up hills, has a track switch, and the star feature is Thomas’ 360 spinning descent on his way to collect the treasure. He stays on the track in a continuous loop, powered by 2 AAA batteries.
The age for this set is 3 and up, and I think it’s designed really well for littles by Fisher-Price with the automatic reset for continuous play, and the fact that the grooves on the rails are nice and deep Even if your kids still have clumsy fingers, Thomas will keep chugging along if he gets bumped, or if your kids are looking for hands-on play, like this guy.
Roman ran round and round the track, following Thomas and cheering him on. “You can do it! You’re almost there!” he shouted whenever he climbed a hill. As I mentioned, the Thomas & Friends™ TrackMaster™ Shipwreck Rails Set is inspired by the movie Thomas & Friends DVD, Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure. The Trackmaster line and the DVD and Blu-Ray are available at Walmart. My kids love the Thomas & Friends cartoons, and the movie is a treasure-hunting quest with both new friends and your favorites – they can watch the movie, and then act it out with Thomas on the Shipwreck Rails play set. And since the Shipwreck Rails set is compatible with all the TrackMaster sets and accessories, you can add more friends for great new adventures, too!
Bottom line on this set: if you have a little fan of Thomas & Friends, then this set is a great one. It’s big – which can be a pro or a con, depending on your setup. While it does require some floor space, it’s seriously impressive to your junior engineer as the big gift of the day! Little hands will do well with the track design, and Thomas is a character they’ll recognize right away. Extra friends, and the Thomas & Friends DVD, Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure movie make great stocking stuffers to go along with it, too!
Thanks for joining me and my little man today to put this toy to the test. (Santa will be bringing James and Percy to join in the fun this Christmas!)
i like it
nice post
wow looking good
How fun! Our nephew would love this. We already got his Christmas gift, but we’ll definitely have to keep this in mind for his birthday.
The train looks like a lot of fun for boys to play with. I wonder how long it really lasts for boys under 3 years old before they start taking it apart.
Michelle the recommended age on it is 3+ and my son is a few months short of 3 years old now. He watches it and he is fascinated with it. I’ve already replaced the batteries once after a week because he keeps turning it on.
Now my 5-year old is the one who keeps trying to rearrange the track, and as I mentioned above, there’s just one configuration that allows a continuous loop. (You could of course mix sets together, but as a stand-alone, you don’t have many options.)
So many kids’ toys are targeted to one specific stage, and this is no exception – but my son is totally in that zone right now! When kids start outgrowing Thomas, or they want to be more creative (aka taking stuff apart, haha) then I’m sure there’s a great next set. But for the hands that are still a bit clumsy, this works really well because it stays on the track and my son can run it by himself!
this post reminds me how much my kids have grown up – they would have loved this just a couple of years ago. How time flies!
Oh my, what a great gift set. My little boy will surely love it.
My son used to love Thomas! We had so many of those little trains around the house..
He looks so happy!!! I hope he continues to enjoy it.
My daughter, Keira, use to love Thomas. We had two train sets and went to see Thomas at Greenfield Village!
Trains have always been a part of Christmas for me, too. I remember visiting Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., to see the mini village and trains each holiday season of my childhood. While my family never had a train around the Christmas tree, some of my relatives did at their homes. I remember watching in fascination as the train rounded the pile of presents beneath the tree. Now, I’m an adult, and trains still fascinate me — though mostly as a means of travel rather than as toys. But, I have to wonder, did my interest in toy trains and Thomas (yes, I watched my share of Thomas back in the late 80s/early 90s) as a child translate to a love of train travel as an adult? I think it may have, and if your childhood toys can influence your interests later in life, then a train set is a wonderful gift indeed.