Why kids love Thomas & Friends’ new Trackmaster Playset
Those of you with Thomas & Friends obsessive little fans in the house may know that there was a new film out recently called Thomas & Friends Journey Beyond Sodor (DVD will be released on 16th October). Unfortunately, the boys (aged 5 and 6 years old) who have been massive Thomas & Friends fans since they were old enough to use their motor skills, didn’t get the chance to catch the film in the cinemas, but we’ll be holding out for the DVD next month. Thankfully, in the meantime, we were generously offered the new Fisher-Price® Thomas & Friends™ Trackmaster™
Scrapyard Escape Set, inspired by the new film, which sees new faces help Thomas on his action-packed epic journey, as he explores pastures new and travels away from Sodor to the mainland. Thomas experiences adventures beyond his wildest dreams and one of the locations he visits is a place called the Steelworks, which the new Trackmaster playset is based on, featuring a motorised Steelworks Thomas engine.
Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Playset features
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Inspired by the new Journey Beyond Sodor film
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Motorised action
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Includes motorised Thomas, cargo car, two cargo pieces and full track layout with cable bridge crossing, Steelworks shack, and cargo grabber
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RRP: £39.99
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Suitable from 3 years+
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You can buy this Trackmaster set from Smyths
Review of the playset
Whenever the boys start their Thomas & Friends role play journeys, they delve so deep into the world of the different characters and personalities in Sodor that it’s hard to bring them back to reality. The boys have all the trains in the Thomas & Friends family and so they continuously make up wondrous adventures that involve friendships, breakups, rescues, and teamwork to get the job done!
#Teamwork, help and share, that’s the way to get us there! #
Eager to rip open the Thomas & Friends track set and start building, the boys got right down to it, meticulously opening every bag and examining the instructions before they started their engineering.
There was a bit of frustration, trying to understand the instructions and so the boys tossed the leaflet to the side and got on with building the track via the box’s diagram. It was a bit of a slow start, but finally, they got the hang of it.
I was so impressed with the line of communication with them both, working perfectly as a team to work out what was provided in the box and where each part went. Aron (my eldest) even took the role of project manager and expertly instructed Aidan on which part went where.
The Trackmaster was taking shape and even I started to get excited, seeing the boys work so beautifully together to build a rather complex track actually!
Finally, after about 30 minutes, the Trackmaster was built and the boys were so happy with their creation.
Out came the whole Thomas & Friends family to try out the new super-duper track.
What do we think of the new Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Play Set?
Once the track is built, you fire Steelworks Thomas up with two AAA batteries and then you watch him chugging along the track transporting cogs to and fro. There is a bridge that he goes over before the cogs drop into his cargo carrier. Then a mechanical arm grabs the cogs further along the track. It’s amazing to see how much fun it is for the boys to watch Thomas and his friends riding along the tracks because to me it’s just watching a train ride around the track. The good thing is that the boys own more Trackmaster sets and so they can build to the track if they wanted to and add more friends. The learning through play here comes from building rather than watching because there isn’t really much for the kids to do but watch the trains go after they’ve built the track. The real effort comes from making the track in the first place and I really enjoyed seeing the boys work together meticulously to build the new Trackmaster set, then add additional tracks from other Trackmaster sets and expansion packs as well.
*We were provided the Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Play Set for free for the purpose of this review. All words and opinions are 100% our own.*
