Domino train

Stack the dominoes in the tall tower, start the train, and it drives off standing them up one by one in a line behind it. When the line is done, push the first one over and watch the whole run fall.

What it builds

• Loading the tower, one domino at a time and the right way up, which is careful work for small fingers
• Cause and effect you can see from start to finish: one push, sixty dominoes
• Planning a route, since the cactus pieces turn the train and the line goes where the child sends it
• Patience, because the train lays the line slowly and the fall only works if nobody knocks it early

Why we stock it

Children love knocking over a domino run. Setting one up is another matter: the dominoes fall over, somebody gets frustrated, and an adult ends up doing it. The train does the fiddly part and leaves the child the parts they enjoy, which are loading it, sending it off and knocking the line down. Once they have seen how a run works they start standing dominoes up by hand around the train's line, and that is when the building starts.

The details

Age

3 and up

Dominoes

60, in red, yellow and green

Loading

Tall tower on the train, filled from the top

Steering

Cactus pieces turn the train

Control

Manual knob on the cab

Effects

Music while it runs

Power

Batteries

In the box

The train, its loading tower, sixty dominoes and the cactus direction pieces, in the printed carton. Fit batteries before the first go.

Care

Let the train drive itself. Pushing or pulling it along the floor strains the gears, and pressing on the domino exit jams it. Both warnings are on the box for that reason. Run it on a hard, flat floor, since carpet tips the dominoes before they stand. Wipe it with a dry cloth, and take the batteries out if it is going away for a while.

Specifications colours and content may vary from illustrations