It all began with one Thomas the Tank Engine toy
31 January 2012
My son Jeffrey found out about Thomas the Tank Engine in June 2010 when he was searching in a toy selling catalogue. As any child he spent several hours looking at the catalogue. Of all toys that were inside the catalogue he discovered Thomas the Tank engine. It was an instant adore at first sight. He was 2 years old at that time. Since he has 2 older sisters, there were not trains in the house. It was quite interesting to see how kids are naturally attracted to cars and trains.He would spent time going through the catalogue and when We showed him the particular toys in the stores, he was amazed. And this was a start of a new collection. I am sure that my tale is quite similar to the one you have. It all starts with one.So here is a problem to ponder on:Exactly why are some children fascinated with Thomas the Tank engine?I do believe what draws youngsters towards Thomas the Tank engine are the simpleness of the facial functions and the different thoughts displayed by the characters. Quickly my boy was able to name me Thomas, Gordon, James, Henry, Edward, Annie, Clarabelle, Harold and Toby. It was amazing to determine him learn. He was passionate about it and thus is able to discover easily the features and put names on the characters.Each time that Jeffrey looks at a book while I am reading a story, he would look at the pictures and also interpret the facial expression. He would likely comment on whether “Thomas is actually happy”, “Toby is scared”, “Percy is worried”, “Gordon will be angry”, “Rosie is unsure”. This is very good training for him to consider a facial expression and put a thing on the expression and confirmed by the tale or by me. This is teaching him at a very early age the first step to turning into emotionally intelligent.It always amazes me to be controlled by see little children realising the different characters. They could discriminate between colours as well as small details. Differentiating between colours might be relatively easy for some kids. It is easy to know that James is red, Percy is green, and Thomas is blue.Next how to distinguish between Thomas, Gordon and Edward that are all blue? I at times play “Guess who?” video games with him. I hide both trains in one hand every revealing only for instance the face and I ask him to guess who is in which hand. This can help him to focus on the details and it gives him a sense of accomplishment that they can successfully understand his trains.He got good education with Annie and Clarabelle. They both look alike aside from the facial expression and the names written on them. I usually challenge him to tell me which one is Annie and which one within Clarabelle, whenever we are reading a book or using the toys. After a couple of tries, he was able to get it right. I think it is nice training for him to concentrate on people’s faces and when he goes to school he can quickly put a name on faces.That’s it for now. My next blog will be on the using Thomas the Tank Engine Big lift-the- flap books to improve children‘s recollection and language.