TOMY Dinosaur Train Lights and Sounds and collectable dinosaur characters.

As Bug loves dinosaurs and trains it is no surprise that he loves Jim Henson's TV show Dinosaur Train.  His love of the hit Nick Jr show was sparked after we first climbed aboard the Dinosaur Train to watch a Dinosaur Train DVD and then later on reviewed the Dinosaur Train Spooky Adventures DVD.  Today at the grand old age of 3 the dinotastic show is one of dinosaur mad Bug’s favourite shows and he loves watching the show to see what his favourite Dinosaur Train character are up to and what adventures they embark on when they go on a trip on the magical Dinosaur Train.

Perfect for pre-schoolers fascinated with both dinosaurs and trains, Dinosaur Train with its wonderful world of adventure and fun is aimed at children aged 3-6 years old.  Set in the realistic prehistoric world little viewers get to witness natural history with swamps, jungles, oceans and active volcanoes making for magnificent backgrounds as an array of dinosaur species and other animal life is introduced to them in this colourful animation.  Created with the help of palaeontologists, science teachers and early childhood education experts, the show encourages basic scientific thinking skills as children are introduced to and taught about life science, natural history and palaeontology in a fun way.

The star of the show is a funny, intelligent and very adorable preschool aged Tyrannosaurus Rex called Buddy who was adopted and loved by a family of Pteranodons, Mr and Mrs Pteranodon, after his egg hatched in their nest along with the baby Pteranodons, his new siblings Tiny, Shiny and Don.  Buddy has a ravenous desire to learn about different types of dinosaurs and with the help of his new family along with the friendly and knowledge Conductor of the Dinosaur Train and the dinosaurs he meets on the train and in the wondrous worlds they visit, Buddy has lots of exciting adventures exploring different dinosaur species learning about their lives, similarities and differences. 

Setting off from Pteranodon Station where they board the Dinosaur Train we see Buddy and his family embark on adventures and whimsical voyages through prehistoric worlds.  The Dinosaur Train has the magical ability to travel to any time or place in the entire Mesozoic Era (Age of the Dinosaurs) travelling through the time tunnels to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous time periods, allowing dinosaurs of all species to travel to the different time periods where they can explore the world inhabited by other amazing creatures.  The colourful train is customized for all dinosaur species, with large windows perfect for long-necked Sauropods, lots of room for large Theropods and plenty of headroom in the Observation Car for the Giganotosaurs.

With Dinosaur Train being one of Bug's favourite shows he was over the moon to receive some Dinosaur Train goodies.

Based on the show the TOMY Dinosaur Train toys feature collectable dinosaur figures of the show's characters and the Dinosaur Train from the show. 

Bug's box of Dinosaur Train goodies consisted of packs that included -

*  Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train with Laura the Giganotosaurs dinosaur figure *

*  Train car with Morris the Stegosaurus dinosaur figure *

* Mr. Conductor the Troodon dinosaur figure, Delores the Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur figure and Shiny the Pteranodon dinosaur figure *

The award winning Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train is a 3-car plastic replica of the iconic Dinosaur Train from the show.  The high quality, well-made train is very colourful with vibrant colours little ones will love.  The train also features lights and sounds with the front of the train flashing with colour if the clear button at the front of train or train’s smokestack is pressed.  When the button or smokestack is pressed the train also makes sounds, such as a train sound and a dinosaur roar.  Bug loved the lights and sounds, enjoying the flashing colours and seeing the headlight light up as well as getting enjoyment out of pressing the smokestack to hear dinosaur roars. 

The Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train is described as featuring over five fun songs, sounds and phrases but in all the time that Bug has spent playing with the train (which has been a lot) and pressing the button and smokestack (which has been again and again) we still have not heard any sounds, only sounds and dinosaur roars.

All of the train’s carriages have wheels which glided smoothly on our floors when the train is pushed by little Conductor Bug.  Each of the carriages connect together with the little swivel connector links, with Bug being able to connect and disconnect carriages easily by simply pushing the connecting links together or pulling apart.  Children can expand their train with extra train cars from separate packs, all of which also connect to the train using the easy to use connector links.

So that the dinosaurs travelling on the Dinosaur Train stay inside the train when travelling through time to different time periods in the Mesozoic era, all of the dinosaurs have a little hole in their foot which connects them to the Dinosaur Train by placing them on the small little pins in the train cars.  Whilst this feature is great for keeping the dinosaurs in place so they don’t fall over Bug did find it a little tricky at times to get the dinosaur stuck in place and with his lack of patience he did get frustrated with it at times but for the most part he could either fix the dinosaurs in place or was happy to pack as many dinosaurs in each carriage as possible before whizzing the dinosaurs away on a fun adventure.

The Dinosaur Train toy packs with the train cars are a great addition to the Dinosaur Train collection, allowing children to expand their train with extra train cars.  Also in the Dinosaur Train toy packs are small dinosaur figures of characters from the show.

The small dinosaur figures are colourful, realistic dinosaur copies of the dinosaur characters from the show.  The dinosaurs are very detailed in design and are very well-made, comparing them to cheap generic plastic dinosaurs that Bug already has I would saw the Dinosaur Train dinosaurs are of a very high quality and will withstand lots of fun and adventures with Bug. 

Bug loves that he recognises the dinosaurs from his favourite TV and was excited about having his very own Mr. Conductor who is often in charge of driving the train.  He was also happy to see Laura the Gigantosaurus dinosaur figure with the Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train, who he loved to have ride on the train as she does in almost every episode of the show.

Even though the dinosaurs are non-moving and do not make any noises, Bug has had lots of fun playing with them.  He loves to have them riding the dinosaur train, roaming the land on fun adventures and roaring loudly.

Bug loves his new Dinosaur Train toys and has many an enjoyable adventure playing with his Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train and dinosaur figures which I think are great for promoting imaginative play. 

There are lots more collectable dinosaur figures from the show available to collect and as Bug loves his Dinosaur Train dinosaurs so much he has already asked if he can have some more for Christmas to add to his collection, with him demanding asking for a little Buddy in particular as he is his favourite dinosaur from the show.

The TOMY Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train and collectable dinosaur figures are recommended for children aged 3 years+.   All the Dinosaur Train toys are available to purchase directly from TOMY as well as being available from other toy retailers.  The Lights and Sounds Dinosaur Train with Laura has a RRP of £14.99 which I think is a brilliant price for such a high quality train that little fans of the show will love playing with.  Additional train cars with a dinosaur figure are available at the starting price of £5.99 (RRP) and collectable 3 packs of dinosaur figures are available for £4.99 (RRP).

TOMY also do other Dinosaur Train toys including a remote control Dinosaur Train and Interactive Dinosaur Train toys that feature SmartTalk technology which gives the dinosaurs the ability to recognize and interact with each other.

I highly recommend these collectable Dinosaur Train toys and with them already featuring on Bug’s early Christmas list I will definitely be purchasing some more to add to his collection as well as looking at the other TOMY Dinosaur Train toys for Bug to try.

*  Bug was kindly sent these TOMY Dinosaur Train toys to play with in return for this review which contains the opinions of myself and my dino-mad little helper *