My 2 1/2 yr old son is obsessed with all types of trains. I'm looking for displays of any sort that he would find entertaining. Could be as quick as a toy store that has an amazing display or a day trip to visit a museum. We iive in Plymouth.
Sometimes book stores have train tables set up in the children's section. I've seen many kids playing whilst mom was shopping for good bed time stories!
it will be a while til you can go to this one...but your son will still be obsessed, if he's anything like my son. :)
at the Toledo Zoo, they put up a huge electric train display in the evenings, in the same building as Santa, at Christmas time. during 'Lights before Christmas'.
It's a weekend trip, but... My kids loved the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They have a HUGE train exhibit there.
There is a small train shop on Ann Arbor Trail, in the Saxton's building. They should be able to hlep you there.
My 21/2 year old daughter also loves trains and our membership to Greenfield Village/Henry Ford has proved invaluable. On super hot days or in winter you can go into the museum and see the trains (you can even climb into the cab of one and blow the whistle) and on nice days you can go into the village and see/hear/ride on the train there. They also have Thomas the Tank days for an extra charge. In addition, the museum also has a fabulous toy train display at Xmas, I had to drag my daughter away to go and see santa.
Have fun.
You should take him to the Historical Museum in Detroit. It has a fantastic train layout!
Or there's the Lionel place in....is it Mt. Clemens??? Somewhere there. Google in Lionel museums in Michigan.
Down at Greenfield Village, Thomas the Tank Engine was there recently. Might still be. You Can't miss Thomas! Or Sir Topham Hat.
My youngest LOVED the Thomas series when he was little. And now he's a graduated High School senior. 'Em were the good ol' days.
Hi K.,
Have you ever been the the Huckleberry railroad in Holly ( I think). I know that later this summer they are going to have "A day with Thomas". We are going to take our daughter who loves trains too. Looks like lots of fun.
Here is a link to their site
http://geneseecountyparks.org/huckleberry_railroad.htm
Have fun with it! All of a sudden, the love of trains just seems to stop. It's kind of sad! So enjoy this sweet phase for as long as you can!
From the mom of a 4 1/2 year old obsessed with trains who also lives in Plymouth, here are a few ideas:
Greenfield Village has a round house with real trains in it that my son loves to visit. Plus there is the train that you can ride on.
There is the Lionel Visitor Center in Chesterfield. It's a bit of a drive, but we took my son there to celebrate his 3rd birthday and he loved it. You start with a short video on the history of Lionel trains and then they have a room with a huge train layout that the workers run the trains on, but they also have plenty of buttons for the kids to push to make things happen. Plus they have a small table with trains for the kids to run. You have to make reservations ahead of time though. The Lionel site is www.lionel.com.
In Walled Lake, there are family train rides. They have hour long train rides that are just a train ride. They also have family train rides that include a meal. And there are all kinds of themed train rides too. Here's a link: http://www.rail-road.com/FamilyTrains/FamilyTrains.php
If you are in downtown Plymouth, there is the Plymouth Train Shop on Ann Arbor Trail. They have one small display, but my son likes to go in there to add trains to his birthday list.
And if you are looking for Thomas trains, Tony's Mower Shop on 5 Mile Rd west of Haggerty has a good selection of trains. It's not the same selection as a bigger store, but it's another place my son likes to build his birthday list.
Another thing to keep an eye out for are train shows. We've been to one at the Rock Financial Showplace and another at Cobo. They will have all sorts of train displays and even more shops set up.
Those are my quick answers. If I think of more, I'll post again.
ETA:
The Plymouth library web site has a list of train books for kids: http://plymouthlibrary.org/jtrains.htm. They also have a summer reading program for kids. Sign up for the reading program started June 2. For the younger kids, it's a read to me program. You'll get a log that you can record which books you read to your son. Then you stop in the library each week and they will stamp your log and give you a small prize. The prizes vary week to week. Some of the prizes my kids have received in the past are stickers, small toys, ice cream at McDonald's, and a free game of bowling.
