Kids Train Table

[3d]

Chuggington is the "new" toddler train set popular nowadays.

[DRR]

Check craigslist, when it comes back on, for a deal.

Especially if you live in family dense suburbia.

You can generally find a gently used table that some family has outgrown, and wants to get out of their house. And it's too big to ship and it cost too much originally to just give away, so they put it on craigslist.

Then when you're done with it you could probably recoup most of the money you spent on it.

[pinion]

Thanks everyone! DRR: I think we found a good one on there, going to see if the seller still has it.

[cbelt3]

Wooden. No magnets that can become loose (safety).
When the kids were little I built each of them a 'play table'... 5/8 plywood covered with green felt.

As they aged I put taller legs on them. (Just 2x4's).

The design goal was they should be able to jump on the table with two of their friends.

They loved 'em. Trains, Playmobil, Lego, pet cages, whatever. The most flexible piece of kid furniture imaginable.

All for the cost of a half sheet (or less) of ply, some felt, 2x4's, and a few hours.

For trains... we still have the wooden train sets I used in the early 1960's. We'll keep them for the future grand children, great grands, etc..

Don't go electric.. the kid powered ones are much more fun, and the wooden ones are almost indestructible. (Admittedly we've got some teething marks on some of them from children and dogs.)

[Acer]

I did something similar to cbelt, only I used an old hollow-core bedroom door. Very light. Narrower than a plywood sheet, but then that made it easy to reach all parts without leaning heavily on the table. Found the door in someone's trash. I covered it in green felt, and added a strip of pine quarter-round trim around the top edge, as a stop for the train tracks (or cars, or marbles) from falling off the edge. Legs are scrap 2x4s. The thing is still in daily use ten years later.

[3d]

What's the purpose of the felt?
Sound deadening?

Doesn't the soft cloth surface hinder coloring/drawing on paper. And painting/cleaning?

[Acer]

I used the felt because it keeps the wooden train tracks from sliding around. If it were a drawing table or messy table, I would use a different surface. With just toys used on it, it's stayed pretty clean. A vacuuming takes care of dust, etc.