My son will be two this month. My husband bought him this fantastic wooden train set by Doug and Melissa at an after Christmas sale. I have a IKEA coffee table that was given to me that is the perfect size for a train table. I am currently painting the table top, and will put the train set on it.
My question is, this train set has a lot of sections that are elevated, and the only thing that holds up the track are small square blocks. I think that this is going to be a huge mess unless I somehow attach the blocks and track to the table (it doesn't have the edges to keep the peices on the table like a traditional train table). Does anyone have a suggestion on the best way to attach stuff? Glue? Screws? Velcro? I don't know if I want to make it permanent since as the kids get older they might want to be able to redesign the train set, but at this point our son is too young to make these kinds of changes.
Let me know if anyone has done this for their toddler.
THANK YOU for so many good suggestions. I found the Suretrack Clips at Creative Kidstuff, and am going to use those on some of the areas that are less stable. My husband is going to get some trim for the table, and we might also try the hot glue in a few places. All together it should make a semi-attached, less messy table for him.
Thanks again!
we use double sided scotch tape. it works really well for that. also just as an FYI the Thomas the Tank Engine wooden set is compatable with the Melissa and Doug Set.
Hi
I have tried to attach a train set to a train table and both glue and screws did not work. Admittedly this was at church and many kids played with it and destroyed it. It maybe better to try and add sides to the table so the track doesn't fall off, at least that way the track can be changed without detroying the table or track. Both screws and glue ruined the track so that we had to get rid of it. Hope that helps.
Two other items that could be handy-
1. We cut and put down on our train table under the entire tarck the rubber stuff they sell that goes under rugs to keep them from slipping. Linen's N Things & Bed Bath beyond sell it.
2. My mom cut strips of some type of tape (I can get the name if you'd like) that I also believe is used to keep rugs down. Its a wider woven type and that works on a small track version we have upstairs set up inside a smaller box table.
We bought my son a train set a couple of years ago now and after spending $100. on the train and the cool stuff to go with it we decided to build our own table to save money. We made a table similar to a coffee table and I know exactly what your talking about as far as the small square blocks go and honestly we've never really had much trouble. Yes sometimes they fall but a huge part of the train set is being able to design your own track...sometimes they just want a simple oval or they want a windy hilly track. we've added many pieces like a bridge and a draw bridge so I think gluing or sticking the pieces together may not be such a great idea in the end. Good luck!
Brio and Imaginarium make pieces that look like bridge/railway ties that have elevated edges meant to go where the wooden pieces hook together, so they snap in there and hold tight. They go under the wooden railway pieces like the blocks, but have higher edges and are tight so you snap the railway into it to hold it together. Ours came with our train set but we did buy an extra package of them at Toys R Us for $15. Very reasonable nad they are easy to use and hold tight.
Not sure if I'm understanding your problem right, but what about going to a home improvement store and buying some sort of trim to attach to the edges of the table? I know I have seen wood that is about 1/2 inch tall and about 1-1/2 wide. You could cut pieces to fit the edges of the table and paint them when you are doing the train scene so that they look like part of the table. This seems like it would at least give the table some "edges" to keep the train pieces from easily falling to the floor.
Great idea to make your own train table, by the way. I'm definitely going to file this idea away...Good Luck!
I would just make the track to not include the elevated pieces just until he is old enough to get manage it on his own without crashing the elevated pieces down and making a mess, probably in another year (altho your younger one will then be the one
crashing things:) I wrestled with the same idea when my son was younger but I am really glad I didn't do anything permamt b.c by the time he was 3.5 he wanted to make the track his way and not what the box told him to make, its a lot better for their imagination and motor skills to be able to rearrange the pieces on thier own Keep looking for a non permanent fix for the problem. What we do is just give him the easier peices to work with and when we have time to spend half an hour or so with him we'll bring out the elevated, specialized pieces when we can play along with him.
I also suggest nailing some "molding" from home depot or wherever to the edges. I did that when I was making a mosaic coffee table to give the table an edge so it looked more finished. You can buy all different "heights" of molding and it's really easy to attach. It won't ruin the table too much if you want to take it off later-- it's going to be the kids' table anyway! I bougght a "miter box" which is a plastic box (cheap) that helps you saw the edges of the wood at an angle so you can make nice finished corners. Honestly, go to your home improvement store and tell someone knowledgeable about your project and let them help you! Good luck!
I'm all about HOT GLUE! It's awesome because someday when you are sick of the train being there you can just pop it off and pick the little glue spots off and have your nice table back. It's such a great product!
Have fun,
J.
PS I would wait before putting all of the effort into it though because we got our 3 year old a Thomas the Train for Christmas and it was a hit for about 2 weeks and then he got bored watching it and it was put away :o) He spent more weeks begging for it than actually playing with it, LOL.
We had almost the same issue. We got a train set for my four-year-old for his birthday, with a big twisty elevation that would be awesome--except it collapses every 45 seconds!! We did some investigating and found these things called Suretrack Clips that hold the tracks together--although the clips would not hold the track to the table, they will will hold the tracks themselves together. You can get them on Amazon and some train specialty sites, but I found the best deal was on Ebay because the shipping is pretty exorbitant on Amazon, etc. Hope this is helpful!
