Brio Farm Railway Review

As with most toddlers, Dylan has developed a bit of a thing for transport.  He loves the airplanes that fly incredibly low over our house, the buses we go on every week and his favourite has to be trains.

He loves going on the train, spotting the trains, books about trains, Thomas the Tank, and of course he loves his new Brio Train Tracks that we were sent from The Toadstool.

These are Dylan's first wooden trains, and we have had great fun playing with them and testing them over the last few weeks.  The tracks are easy to put together, and Dylan can manage it himself, although not into a circle yet. The Farm Railway set comes with everything you need for imaginative train play, and there are plenty of sets you can buy to add on and link up with it.

Dylan had great fun using the train parts all together and separately, although his all time favourite pastime has been placing the gates across the tracks and crashing the train into them with a very loud shout of 'Crash' as the fence goes flying.

We are huge fans of wooden and traditional toys in this house, I love the practicality, the lack of annoying music and the longevity as well as the way they encourage imagination.  This train set will without a doubt last through the years and I see it being one of those toys I get out for my grandchildren in years (hopefully many many years) to come.  The wooden tracks which are made from sustainable beech are thick, don't splinter and are hard wearing enough to cope with the occasional gumming from an eight month old.  And the magnets on the trains are fully encassed so I don't have to worry about parts falling off with a small child around.

The cars combine plastic and wood to give flexibility, but all plastic is free of any nasties.  Every aspect of these train sets has been designed to be best for the child and the environment and I don't worry about Archie getting hold of the parts as I know everything down to the paint is non-toxic.

I love watching my boy play with this, and it is a favourite toy to get out on every playdate as what child doesn't love something as simple as a train set! The plastic often gets relegated to the back as these classics are put through their paces.

Whilst Brio is certainly not the cheapest train sets on the market (this one retails at £29.33 on the Toadstool site), I do think you get what you pay for and Brio is a company who are making something that will last, that will be safe and that will be well played with.  

We are big fans of this beautiful wooden railway set and will most likely be buying more for Dylan over the coming months.  The set is designed for ages 3 and over but I see no reason why it can't be used at 2 (Dylan is 27 months). 

If you want to know any more, then a few other bloggers and I will be chatting about the lovely Brio range on the following dates, do come and join in!  There is a competition on the day as well - all info below.

Disclaimer:  We were sent this toy free of charge for the purpose of this review as part of our role as Toadstool Toy Testers, but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.