In my opinion the best train sets for toddlers are wooden train sets, that the child can piece together. My 2 1/2 year old son loves his wooden train set and will play with it for a long time, building different tracks and pushing the trains along (his Dad loves to do this too!). Since we bought it 3 months ago he has played with it everyday since.The magnetic trains really hold my son's attention and he will spend ages putting them all together in a line and pushing them around the track. I would recommend buying quite a few pieces as the more pieces you have the better and more intricate tracks you can build. It's also good to have bridges, tunnels and other accessories.

There are lots of wooden train sets on the market and I have reviewed a few of the best train sets for toddlers below.

Most toddlers love Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and will love the numerous Thomas train sets on the market. There are lots of options available and the Thomas train sets tend to be of very high quality. Toddlers will also love to use the sets to re-enact the stories they see on the television and read in the books. Thomas sets are great for imaginative play.

Brio is the name for quality and durability when buying wooden train sets. Although they are more expensive you can't go wrong when buying Brio if you're looking for the best quality. There are lots of lovely Brio train sets on the market. Some of the wooden trains are motorised so you will need to buy batteries for some them. Once you have bought a basic Brio wooden train set there are lots of different high quality accessories you can buy. Or you could buy a basic bulk buy train set (see below) and purchase some of Brio's trains and accessories to go with it.

There are a lot of wooden train sets on ebay which are compatable with Brio and Thomas train sets but are considerably less expensive. Again, they may be a good option to bulk up an exisiting Brio or Thomas train set or you could buy one and add Thomas and brio trains to them. There are some links to ebay train sets on the left.

If you want to buy a wooden train set it may be worth investigating buying a train table to go with it. Many train tables have wooden train tracks which come with them. Tables have the advantage of keeping play and mess off the floor and at children's level. Click to read more about the different train tables available.