One of the old time children’s favorites are the Thomas the Tank Engine Toys.  The show Thomas and his Friends has been one of the most preferred TV shows of kids for generations.  In fact, most children today are very passionate about collecting Thomas the Tank Engine memorabilia, DVDs, books and of course toys.  For children, having a Thomas and Friends character toy can satisfy their desire to feel being right next to their favourite cartoon characters.   For parents, it is always best to let their kids play with toys that have a lot of benefits besides just entertaining them.  Actually, toys with educational values are best sellers.  So, if you share the same feeling as the rest of the parents, consider looking into some of these toys that you might want to give to your kids or just browse this site for more gift ideas.

Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway – Deluxe Roundhouse

Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway - Deluxe Roundhouse

The Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway-Deluxe Roundhouse is a toy that would for sure make kids go crazy about Thomas and his Friends.  The roadhouse looks exactly like what they see on the show.  It is made of wood and there are brick decals all over it to make it appear more realistic.  The nice thing about this toy is that kids would love the fact that they like driving into the 5 train shelters.  It looks quite big so you will need a bigger table for this.  Children should be careful when they try to get the trains into the shelter since it might ruin its doors.  This is actually best for kids 4 years old and above.  This is just right for kids who are already responsible enough on their toys. This is a perfect toy for imaginary play.

Thomas and Friends:  The Great Discovery -24 Piece Floor Puzzle

The Great Discovery -24 Piece Floor Puzzle

Since puzzles are also the old time favorites of children, this toy also comes up as highly recommended.  Although there are a with range of toy you could buy for your child, here is why you should consider buying  Thomas and Friends:  The Great Discovery 24-piece floor puzzle.  This is one of several educational toys that parents would wish their kids to play with.  This toy helps exercise your child’s ability to solve picture problems.  Actually playing with puzzle stimulate their mind to problem solve through recognising patterns, learn about matching shapes, and what’s up and down. For parents, there is nothing to worry about when you buy this puzzle for your child. The puzzle pieces are extra large and there is no choking hazard for the little ones. This puzzle will for sure make them interested to play with puzzles and other related educational toys.

Thomas and Friends Wooden Railroad Carry Case Playmat

Thomas and Friends Wooden Railroad Carry Case Playmat

Now when the play time is over, it’s time to pack up all the toys, wouldn’t it be great that the kids actually enjoy putting away all their toys? Here is a recommendation that is actually something useful, with this toy they will learn how to keep their stuffs in one place.  The Thomas and Friends Wooden Railroad Carry Case Playmat will allow them to be accountable for their toys and store them inside the bin after they use.  Since kids are not that conscious of how to store their toys properly, when you give them something that fascinates them, you can easily encourage them to put away their toys in a fun way. Through the Thomas and Friends Wooden Railroad Carry Case Playmat, you can easily develop the healthy habit of being tidy and keeping the play area or room organised in your child while they are still very young. Parents will not have to push them to keep their toys in proper places since they will do it all by themselves.  Another advantage with this bin is you can bring them with you when you travel.  It can hold everything that your kids might want to bring along with them for the trip.

So, if you are looking for good and reliable toys for the adorable children this holiday season consider looking into the Thomas the Tank Engine Toys since there is everything you need here.  In fact, we also have DVDs and books also available.  You don’t have to go far, it only takes one click away to get the best toy for your children.

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There are several Thomas and Friends episodes and movies available on DVD. Not only do they provide entertainment for our children but also offer creative play and educational play. Particularly, when kids watch the episodes or movies, they often like to re-enact scenes with their Thomas toys (the Take-n-Play sets are great for this)!

Below are descriptions of some popular episodes and movies, easily available online or in toy and department stores.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Thomas and the Magic Railroad came out in the year 2000 and stars Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor. Mr. Conductor is put in charge when Sir Topham Hatt goes on vacation!

In this movie Thomas sets out to help his friend Mr. Conductor. The conductor is stranded on the Island of Sodor because his mysterious gold dust is running out! This gold dust lets him magically transport from place to place. He waits with a little girl Lily and his cousin Junior for Thomas to come and help. When Thomas has Lily aboard, he is magically transported to Muffle Mountain’s secret railway. There he meets a long lost steamer Lady – who is more powerful than even Diesel 10 (train yard bully). On this adventure Thomas and Lily set out to chase down Diesel 10, and down he goes when a bridge collapses.

Thomas and Friends Misty Island Rescue

Thomas is on his way to the Mainland and gets lost at sea! He happens upon mysterious Misty Island and meets some new friends. Bash, Ferdinand and Dash help Thomas get home, while Sir Topham Hatt has a search party out looking for him! This is a great movie for the whole family, about an hour in length. If you liked “Here of the Rails” you should love this movie. There are also music videos in the bonus features. The CGI animation is very well done and seems to capture children’s’ interest more than the older animated versions, because the CGI seems to just make things pop on the screen.

Thomas and Friends Percy and the Bandstand

This movie isn’t as long (about forty minutes) but it’s a lot of fun for the kids. A top secret birthday party awaits Thomas and his friends, and they have to soar in a hot-air balloon ride to get to it! A special surprise also awaits them at the bandstand. In this movie you will see ‘Duncan and the Hot Air Balloon’, ‘Toby’s Special Surprise’, ‘Percy and the Bandstand’, and ‘The Man in the Hills’.

Thomas and Friends The Great Discovery

Pierce Brosnan is the narrator in this movie, as all engines are preparing for the upcoming Sodor Day. But soon Thomas loses his way up in the mountains and discovers an old town named Waterton. Then all folks on the Island of Sodor want to restore the town in time for Sodor Day! Kids will delight in meeting a new engine in this movie as well, Stanley.

Thomas and Friends Thomas and the Runaway Kite

Gordon, Charlie and Toby help Thomas catch a runaway kite before it blows right off the Island of Sodor forever. During this adventure Thomas learns a few lessons about being helpful. The movie runs about 45 minutes or so.

Thomas the Tank Engine Pop Goes Thomas

Thomas is on his way to the picnic extravaganza carrying special cargo! Then Percy joins in to play some hide and seek! Bonus features on this DVD include Sodor Hide & Seek Game and Roary the Racing Car Bonus Episode (Roary’s First Day).

You can also buy Thomas episodes on DVD, and bundled favourite classics. There is the Platinum Collection which portrays the best of Thomas, James and Percy episodes and released in 2003. In this collection you can experience viewer-selected favourites of these three popular Thomas and Friends engines. The Best of Thomas includes eight episodes. It runs about 46 minutes and ends with a song kids can sing along to called “Really Useful Engine”. The Best of Percy episodes were selected from preschool kids around the world. It includes nine stories narrated by Ringo Starr and George Carlin. The Best of James contains eight episodes narrated by George Carlin. Kids love James’ fun loving grin and happy ways!

Just click on this link to buy Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs.

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Some History – The Railway Series

There are also the original books written by Rev. Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher. When Christopher Awdry was young and had the measles in 1943, his father used to read him the Thomas the Tank Engine books. The first book in the Railway series is named The Three Railway Engines. It was published in 1945 and the stories included are Edward and Gordon, Edward’s Day Out, Edward, Gordon and Henry and The Sad Story of Henry.

Thomas the Tank Engine was the second book published in 1946 and is the first appearance of Thomas and James. Stories included are Thomas’ Train, Thomas and Gordon, Thomas and the Breakdown Train and Thomas and the Trucks.

The third book in the Railway series is James the Red Engine. This was published in 1948 and stories included are James and the Bootlace, James and the Top Hat, James and the Express, and Troublesome Trucks. James gets into trouble often because he is so careless. But he helps pull the Express and sets some troublesome trucks on the right path.

There are 26 books in the Railway series written by Rev. Wilbert Awdry himself, and many more written by his son Christopher. Christopher followed in his father’s footsteps in the mid-eighties, creating stories for his son Richard. His first book was published in 1983 and named Really Useful Engines. He completed a total of 14 books to add to the Railway series, finishing up in 1996.

Thomas the Tank Engine books have sold over eighty million copies throughout the world. Now that’s a lot of books! You can even find a Thomas the Tank Engine Owners’ Workshop Manual. This book is great for kids who are inquisitive and like to really understand how things work. It explains how Thomas operates, and how his driver interacts with him.

The great thing about Awdry’s books is that they are often based upon real people and events. The illustrations are colourful and attractive to children. Nowadays there are endless varieties of Thomas and Friends books to suit any child’s interests.

There are literally hundreds of books about Thomas the Tank Engine and Thomas and Friends, I couldn’t possibly discuss them all! But I will talk about a few of my favourites. The “Thomas and Friends: My Red Railway Book Box” is a wonderful set of board books for younger ones (up to 24 months). The set includes four popular Thomas board books: “Blue Train, Green Train”, “Go, Train, Go!”, “A Crack in the Track!” and “Stop, Train, Stop”. These board books are very sturdy with colourful pictures. Another book that was a hit at my place is “Thomas and Friends: Lift-the-Flap Freight”. Thomas and Percy are features in this book, and children get to lift the flaps to see what they are carrying.

You can find more books available for purchase here on this website by clicking on the book menu above.

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You can buy products from this line as sets, complete with trains and track, or you can also buy individual trains and individual track pieces (such as bridge expansion packs for example).

I bought my nephew the TrackMaster Thomas’ Busy Day Starter set and he absolutely loves it. It’s not as expensive as some of the other sets (you can find it for around $15). This is a great starter set – but keep in mind it is pretty basic (hence the term “starter”). The track forms a simple loop and has only one engine (Thomas!). Of course it can always be expanded with additional track and trains. And Thomas takes one AA battery, and chugs fairly fast down the track too! One of the things Mark (my nephew) likes the most seems to be flipping the switches to switch trains onto other tracks.

TrackMaster Arthur at the Copper Mine is another popular set. In this TrackMaster set, Arthur collects copper from the mines.  It runs a bit more expensive, around $20 to $25 or so. It`s easy to set up and kids love watching the cargo car magically fill up with copper as it shoots under the mine.  The set comes with Arthur and he needs a battery – you need to remove a screw (the one at the rear) to take the top part off.

One of my favourite sets is the TrackMaster Percy`s Day at the Farm. Why? I really have a soft spot for Percy! So in this set, Percy’s job is to help Farmer McColl load and unload cargo and there is a platform to help him do just that. It comes with a complete track, cargo car, Farmer McColl’s Farm and even a cow. Beware before purchasing this set though – it contains small parts and is recommended for ages three and up.

A huge set (and hugely popular) is the TrackMaster Thomas at Action Canyon. It contains 53 pieces of track, so plan on plenty of space before setting it up. A feature I like about this set is the collapsing bridge and waterfall. This set is based on the popular Thomas movie, The Great Discovery.  It appeals to kids for this very reason, because they can start recreating adventures they’ve experienced on the movie. The track is very durable and easy to put together. Thomas takes one AA battery and chugs around the track effortlessly, even uphill and through a waterfall.

Colin the Crane has a TrackMaster set as well – The Party Surprise. Kids love helping the crane lift and load cargo onto Thomas and then watch Thomas chug away to carry the load.

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Thomas the Tank Engine

Not only is he the Number 1 blue engine, he’s number one in many of our kid’s eyes as well! He’s really well known for being over-eager and taking on more than he can handle. Maybe that’s why kids love him so much, because he always tries so hard. Thomas is the type of engine who consistently works hard and aims to be a Really Useful Engine.

He started out on Sodor shunting coaches for the Main Line engines Gordon and Henry. Thomas is known to be rather cheeky and he liked to play tricks on the other engines. But he is also known for having a kind heart – and being quite forgetful. Percy the Small Engine is often portrayed as Thomas’ best friend.

Percy the Small Engine

Percy the Tank Engine

Accident-prone Percy and Thomas are good friends. When Thomas ran the Main Line, Percy ran Thomas’ branch line.  Percy is the smallest and youngest of them all and shows off the number six on his engine.

Gordon the Big Engine

Gordon The Big Engine

Gordon is a blue engine carrying the number four. He’s also the biggest engine and he pulls the Express (so he thinks he’s very important indeed). Not only is he the biggest but also the fastest engine on Sodor. Gordon is strong and hardworking but can be a bit boastful at times.

Henry the Green Engine

Henry the Tank Engine

Henry is the next biggest engine on Sodor and sometimes helps out with the Express when Gordon cannot haul. But poor Henry has a multitude of fears and is prone to sickness, which often gets in the way of doing his job.

James the Red Engine

James the Tank Engine

James can be rather shallow and often believes he is better than others. He is painted red with yellow stripes and black lining and extremely proud of this too.

Edward the Blue Engine

Edward the Tank Engine

Edward’s strong point is being kind hearted. He loves helping out those in need. A very hard worker, he always strives to do his best to complete a job. Even though he is often viewed as old and slow, he is more than capable of doing his job and much wiser than the other engines as well.

Toby the Tram Engine

Toby the Tram

Toby is an old and hardworking tram engine. He has two coaches (Henrietta and Victoria). He enjoys spending time with the pigs at Farmer Trotter’s pig farm and likes listening to the birds by his shed.

Emily

Emily the Tank Engine

Bossy and fussy, Emily certainly has a strong personality. She’s nice though, and acts like a sister to many of the other engines. She really likes James though, just as if he were her little brother. Emily has shiny paintwork and brass fittings – a beautiful engine.

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The playsets are durable and last for a long time. Thomas and friends keeps our kids busy for hours! They work together with magnets and are not compatible with the Thomas wooden train sets.

Take-n-Play Rescue From Misty Island

If your child loved the movie Misty Island Rescue, then this play set is a perfect companion. Your son or daughter will have hours of fun re-enacting scenes from the movie! This set is actually two in one – it contains an Island of Sodor track plus a Misty Island track. A logging crane picks up the logs to reveal a tunnel to Misty Island. Also parents will love that it folds up and is easily transportable.

Coal Loader Playset

This set includes six track pieces, cargo car and two coal pieces. It has a working coal loader and conveyor belt. The Sodor Coal Company building can store up to seven vehicles. The recommended age is three to five years. This is a great starter set, and it`s not too big which makes it easier to take on trips or to the grandparents’ for a visit. Kids love playing with the coal loader and even loading up other trains with the coal pieces.

Sodor Airport Playset

Kids get to enjoy Jeremy the Jet plane with this playset! He also comes with a back-wind motor. Fun airport lights and sounds and complete track setup bring hours of fun for the kids. For those of you, who thought the Island of Sodor was just home to the famous trains, think again! Who knew Sodor had an airport? The Sodor Airport is a bright yellow building with a control tower. There is a red button in the control tower that when pushed causes yellow lights to flash and creates sounds to emulate a plane taking off. Six track pieces also come with this set – after all we need a way to include our favourite engines during play!

The Great Waterton Fold N’ Go Playset

This set includes Thomas the Tank Engine, stop and slow signs and a tunnel gate. Like most of the take along sets, everything stores inside and it’s very easy to transport. In The Great Discovery, Thomas discovered the old town Great Waterton high in the mountains.

Timber Yard Playset

A Percy die-cast train, cargo car, two logs, timber yard and track pieces are included in this playset. The logs even split in two (they are magnetic halves) when put through the splitter! But I must caution one of the things we didn’t like about this playset is it can sometimes be difficult to store the 4 pieces of track. But overall it’s a great playset and even includes additional connector track pieces to connect to the older Take Along sets.

Center Island Quarry Playset

In this playset even the bridge collapses and an electronic boulder crashes with sound (crash!). The playset has knockdown features and needs three button batteries. The idea for this playset originated from the story Rusty and the Boulder. Kids love how the boulder makes electronic tumbling sounds when it rolls! As soon as a special place on the mountain is touched, the boulder begins to roll!

Knapford Station Take-n-Play

This set includes an oval track with a ramp and a Percy die-cast engine. This set also connects to other Thomas playsets. Something my nephew thought was really cool was how the station calls out the numbers, colours and names of favourite characters.

There is several other Take and Play sets (remember they are still compatible with the older Take Along sets). You can also purchase trains separately and there is even a Tote-a-Train Playbox. It`s a storage box for all your child`s Take-n-Play extra trains.

Parents love these Take-n-Play sets because they don’t take up as much room, and they are affordable and compact. If your kids have outgrown the Take Along sets though, you might want to consider the larger tracks in the TrackMaster series.

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Post tags: airport playset, Center Island, fisher price, island of sodor, Knapford Station, learning curve, misty island, playsets, preschool ages, thomas and friends, thomas the tank engine, toys, Waterton

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Thomas the Tank Engine's Big Lift - And - Look Book

Thomas the Tank engine’s Big lift the Flap book has Interactive features

I like to look for interactive features when I buy books for children because this gives the element of surprise to the book. An adult or a child, who knows how to read print, will spend hours on a book.  However, toddlers obviously rely on pictures to enable them to enjoy books for a long time. I like to buy books which people will go back over and over again and still find pleasure in reading them.  Thomas the Tank engine’s Big lift the Flap book is such a book.

Thomas the Tank engine’s Big lift the Flap book Pictures

The pages are beautifully illustrated with vivid colours. The settings are in an older style, which I think grandparents will find very interesting to share with their grandchildren how things were before electric trains and the internet. The pictures are simple and bold which are very suitable for toddlers. Most flaps are big enough for little hands to lift and they open the doors to their imagination.

There are many doors and boxes in this book which when they open, create wonderful chuckles of joy in toddlers. When they lift the flaps, this gives them the impression of three dimensions in a two dimensional flat picture. People especially children are very curious by nature and children cannot wait to open the flaps.  These flaps make the book alive and more entertaining thus creating a positive experience for children as they read. They help children to enjoy the book independently. It has wonderful little surprises which I myself find delightful.

Educational Activity Ideas with Thomas the Tank engine’s Big lift the Flap book

An educational activity which parents can play with toddlers is to ask them to guess what is behind the flaps. Children quickly learn what is behind the flap and it gives them a sense of achievement when they have been able to make the right guess. My son could quickly learn what were behind the flaps and it is a pleasure for me to see that he is able to easily remember small details. Each time I make him guess, I ask him to give me more and more details about the pictures. It reinforces the positive “can do” attitude and that learning is easy. The Thomas the tank engine big lift and Look the Flap book finishes with an alphabet activity which is useful for toddlers to start learning phonics.

You can buy Thomas the tank engine big lift and Look the Flap Book here.

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Post tags: children books, element of surprise, facial expression, flap books, grandparents, Interactive books, public library, thomas the tank engine, thomas the tank engine toys

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He would spent time looking at the catalogue and when I showed him the toys in the stores, he was amazed. And this was a start of a new collection.  I am sure that my story is quite similar to yours. It all starts with one.

So here is a question to ponder on:

Why are some children fascinated by Thomas the Tank engine?

Thomas the Tank Engine Photo by Ben Small (UK)

I think what draws children towards Thomas the Tank engine are the simplicity of the facial features and the different emotions displayed by the characters. Quickly my son was able to name me Thomas, Gordon, James, Henry, Edward, Annie, Clarabelle, Harold and Toby. It was amazing to see him learn. He was passionate about it and thus is able to learn easily the features and place names on the characters.

Each time that Jeffrey looks at a book while I am reading a story, he would look at the pictures and interpret the facial expression.  He would comment on whether “Thomas is happy”, “Toby is scared”, “Percy is worried”, “Gordon is angry”, “Rosie is unsure”. This is good training for him to look at a facial expression and put a word on the expression and confirmed by the story or by me.  This is teaching him at a very young age the first step to becoming emotionally intelligent.

It always amazes me to listen to see little children recognising the different characters. They are able to discriminate between colours and small details. Distinguishing between colours might be relatively easy for some children. It is easy to know that James is red, Percy is green, and Thomas is blue.

Then how to distinguish between Thomas, Gordon and Edward which are all blue?  I sometimes play “Guess who?” games with him. I hide both trains in one hand each revealing only for example the face and I ask him to guess who is in which hand. This helps him to focus on the details and it gives him a sense of accomplishment that he can successfully recognise his trains.

He got good training with Annie and Clarabelle. They both look alike except for the facial expression and the names written on them. I always challenge him to tell me which one is Annie and which one in Clarabelle, whenever we are reading a book or playing with the toys. After a couple of tries, he was able to get it right. I think it is good training for him to pay attention to people’s faces and when he goes to school he will quickly put a name on faces.

That’s it for now. My next blog will be on the using Thomas the Tank Engine Big lift-the- flap books to improve children‘s memory and language.

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Post tags: activities with Thomas, educational activities, emotions, facial expression, social learning, thomas the tank engine, toys

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Our first pal is also the star of the show: Thomas. Thomas is a blue tank engine locomotive, the number one engine in the Fat Controller’s railway line. He is cheeky and kind, but he has the habit of doing jobs that are meant to be done by bigger engines. He usually pulls two coaches named Annie and Clarabel. Both Annie and Clarabel carry passengers, but Clarabel can also carry luggage.

The second engine in the Fat Controller’s team is named Edward. He is proud to be Thomas’ friend and co-worker. His color is also blue, but he is older than Thomas. Like Thomas the Tank engine, Edward is very nice and kind to everyone in the island of Sodor. He is pleased to help smaller engines in their work, and also when they get into any kind of trouble. Coaches love him, as all others do. Edward also plays the part of a “comforter” locomotive: whenever the other engines are somehow misbehaving, the Fat Controller asks Edward to calm them down, and then Edward talks to them and soon things are back to normal.

The third engine in the team is Henry. Henry is a green locomotive. He is always proud of his shiny green paint, and everybody reckon he is a very handsome engine. He is a very long locomotive, and he is also very fast. Sometimes Henry gets ill, but he never refuse to do any job.

The number four engine is Gordon. Gordon is the locomotive that pulls the Big Express train. He is the fastest and most powerful locomotive in the entire island of Sodor, and he is very proud of that. In fact, he is so proud that from time to time he can get too arrogant. Gordon is the senior engine in the Fat Controller’s team. Frequently, the other engines like to play tricks on him, which makes Gordon cross. Notwithstanding, he has a kind heart, and always forgives them. He usually uses his strength to help other engines.

The engine number five is James. He is a medium size engine which is very proud of his shiny red paint. He has six wheels.

The last one of the company is Percy. He is the engine number six in the Fat Controller’s team, and is also the youngest one of the locomotives. He is very kind and happy, and his duty consists of sorting out the trucks in the yard.

The Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV show is a outstanding learning partner for little kids, and knowing the basics about the characters will help you better relate with your children and help you follow along as both of you enjoy the delightful episodes of Thomas the Train, which is one of the best kids television show.

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