Train Table - Orland Park,IL

Hi! We ended-up reconditioning an old (smaller) kitchen table by cutting the legs down to the right size (so the kids could stand and play). But we've been very surprised...the kids would rather assemble the tracks together on the carpet than on the table. I think the table "restricts" them, and my kids aren't old enough to be able to plan a track design that is strictly on the table. Without the confines of a table top, my daughter helps my son build creative configurations that have stretched into the kitchen, etc! On the occasions we've pulled out the table, my husband or I must design and assemble the track. And that takes away so much of the fun and creativity.

BTW, we have a berber type carpet and we have the Thomas track system. There has been no problem using the tracks on the carpet -- it works great!

Enjoy the hours of fun you'll have together with the train system -- it's worth every penny (no matter which system or table you go with!!)

Try getting a train table your child can grow with that is like actual furniture. The train tables like Thomas types are pretty expensive for what you get...particle board and wobbely storage bins (if any at all). Also, your son will out grow the train thing faster than you might think and you are stuck with a train table. We bought a train table from pottery barn that I love. It was a good size and has wonderful storage bins that are on wheels (not attached to the table). It is very sturdy and versitle. Now my kids use it as a craft table or play games on it and its not branded or has trees and tracks all over it.

I highly, highly recommend Nilo activity tables. They are amazingly sturdy, and you can use your table for everything (including track extensions). They are tall enough that little knees can fit under them, and you can buy longer legs for the table if you want to keep it for older kids to play games or build models or whatever. They come in all different sizes. We bought ours for trains and it's now used for crafts and legos and everything else although the trains are long-gone. It looks like it did the day we bought it. LOVE them.

Plus, made in America and founded and owned by an American dad & mom. I've found them in independent toy stores or you can order online. http://www.nilotoys.com/

In general, I would advise, don't buy the tables that have drawers unless there is also a spot for legs to go underneath. Otherwise kids end up standing or kneeling, which is not comfortable. Rolling bins or plain plastic bins are a lot better (and more flexible for when your kids are older and want to use the table for other things.)

I've been eyeballing the Target generic brand train table. We've been super impressed with their sets (track plus a few trains -- a great value for the money. We bought two so far) and the Thomas wood and die-cast metal trains work on them -- we've bought those separately over time. We've been using our hardwood floor in the family room up until now, but we're planning to put a rug down which will put an end to that. If anyone has any experience with that one, I'd love to hear.

My kids had the imaginarium table. We got it for our son when he was 2. It was a huge hit but for only 2 yrs then they didnt really play with it. I love the drawers for storage but my son & 1yr old dghtr wouldnt use the drawers for storage they used it to sit in and play with the train table. So the drawers were super sturdy since both kids sat in them.

The imaginarium table from Toys R Us is great. We have the one with the two drawers. You can use Thomas Trains with it. We got ours on sale in early December.

You might want to consider going with a used one. We got a very nice used one from Ebay (if you do an advanced search you can just see things within X miles from your zip code). I also see these a lot on Craigslist. For me the brand didn't matter but having the bins underneath is very useful.

I'll be interested in reading your responses as we are looking for the same thing!

I have heard great things about the Imaginarium products. They will accommodate Thomas items and they have a 'must-have' feature for our household: the drawers are attached to the table so our kid can't fully pull out the drawer and dump the five gazillion train items onto the floor!