Busy Trains, Busy Kids

Last week I hosted a book party on Facebook, with my cousin, Melissa. She is a fabulous Usborne Books representative and hosts these adorable parties online, where guests can interact through posts in a private Facebook group – sharing thoughts about their children and watching videos about new literature and activity books for this young set. The party happened to coincide with election night, which I thought was a nice bonus, as people would be up late watching television and could use a little online diversion. Plus, stress always makes me want to shop.

One of the reasons why I am so enthusiastic about these books, is Brody’s unwavering devotion to his Pull-Back Busy Train book. While it does have an actual story line, the real draw is the child’s ability to pull back the train and watch it travel across pages of different tracks. The pull back feature is much easier for little hands versus a more traditional wind up toy, which often requires mommy or daddy to repeatedly turn the knob until the brink of insanity.

This is the only book we have that really keeps him engaged for upwards of ten minutes. He examines the pictures, closely plans the train’s route, and then pulls back its wheels and watches it move across the grooved track.

My draw is that this does not involve hundreds of actual tracks set up throughout my apartment and multiple trains that make their way into all the deep crevices of our living room and kitchen. And, for Hanukkah this year, Brody will be getting the Pull-Back Busy Helicopter book, as I have noted that he is an avid fan of all things that go, and their playroom has been overflowing with way too many bulky cars and trucks.

When he is finished playing with the train, it goes back into the holder and the book goes neatly on the shelf. That is unless Bryce has been fighting for a turn, and then she angrily runs away with the small train while Brody overreacts in a steady stream of tears to make even the calmest mothers, which is not myself, pull their hair out. I definitely pour a glass of wine and wait for my husband to come home.

As the holiday season is quickly approaching and we are in the thick of three-year-old birthday season, I am going to be posting a lot of great gift ideas for preschool-aged children. This is certainly one of them and at a price point that makes it slightly nicer than a typical book, but not as expensive as a set of trains and tracks. It is definitely a must for car-loving, city dwelling children like my son.