Hi!
My 2-/1/2 year old son loves trains and we are starting to amass quite a bit of Thomas and Train Track stuff. Right now, we just play on the carpet.
We have a small house, and no room for a train table. I was wondering if any of you had any creative alternatives - a board we could slide under the couch? Card board?
Do any of you have any creative solutions/ideas?
My girlfriend has an "under the bed" train table. I believe it's got wheels so they just slide it under when they are finished playing with it.
my son had the table. But, my husband built a platform for a friend. IT was a piece of plywood, with trim around edges, so things didn't roll off. They painted the top of it and put casters on the bottom with a cabinet handle on each side to pull it out. They stored it under the bed. The tracks and trains could be left on there all the time. THey don't have to rebuild every time and it stores away quickly.
we always just built on the carpet - i am not sure our train table has ever had a train on it.
Do you have a coffee table?
I actually turned our old coffee table into a train table. I'm not suggesting your do that, but I find that it's just about the perfect height for him to "chug" the trains around.
Our 3,5 son has 3 or 4 different types of trains, but the most favorite is from Ikea. Almost each time when we do shopping there we buy for him a new set (it's not expansive, usually $7-10). At home he builds this train each time as he wants and each time it’s new.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60112896
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50064358
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30064359
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50064358
It depends on why you want a table. Is your son uncomfortable playing on the floor? Are you wanting to set up track and be able to leave it set up? My boys loved trains and they went through different stages with them. At 2 1/2 they were not so much into setting up the track as they were just playing with the trains and seeing how long a train they could make. They did enjoy the train table at that age because we could leave a track set up and I did not have to build a track every time they played. It was just the right height for them to stand at and walk around. My FIL built it for them. But as they got older they didn't use the table as much because it was too confining. As they began to want to build their own track layouts, they more often used the floor so they could make it as big as they want. If you are wanting to get the trains up off the floor and be able to leave them set up, then I would definitely suggest a piece of plywood or even a large piece of foamcore (more lightweight, but not as durable) that you can set on a coffee table or ottomon and then stored under the bed when not in use.
Just one thought: the trains will NOT stay set up on the table. I've tried that, they get all torn apart anyway. I even tried screwing them onto the table and then my kids lost interest. I think they like building it, but unfortunately then it's not really stable enough for a lot of rough play.
Playing on the ground gets messy and consumes a lot of space but may actually end up being the most fun for your son.
just a thought.
You know we bought our son a train set last yr for Christmas, it is 75 peices and we just play on the carpet, we also don't have room for a table...but my husband always talked about glueing everything to a peice of particle board (cut just a bit larger than the track, with rounded edges so there aren't sharp corners) and sliding it under a bed, you could even attach small casters to the bottom to make it easy for your son to move it in and out of it's hiding place...it seems to be a bit of work but that gets my vote even though we haven't actually done it!
You can buy those carpets that have roads and landscapes on them. While it wouldn't really be any different than playing on your carpet, it does have the roads and such on them... I'm sure they even make those with train tracks instead of roads... We got a car one at Ikea for like $10?
I would get a big piece of plywood, and paint it. Then paint some tracks, or a scene on it. put a handle on it and store it under the couch. The good thing about some of those tables is that it can store the trains themselves, and can also be a table or desk.
Could you take the legs off a train table and then slide it under the bed?
There are playmat carpets that are sound that you could roll out for use while playing and put away.
I was going to recommend the playmat rug/carpet as well. We have a train table, but we also have the rug. The rug is nice because you could just leave it out as a floor rug, or you can roll it up and put it away somewhere when not in use.
