The Brio system is a classic wooden range of trains, track pieces, bridges, tunnels, turntables, cranes, crossings, stations, engine sheds, and so on. In fact,
the range of sets and accessories seems almost endless.

The track fits together with a simple ball-and-socket type join, which is great for little hands, and the trains are connected easily with magnets.

This is definitely the favourite toy of my son Joe (3 1/2). He spends hours and hours quietly building wonderfully complex tracks all around the living room floor. Actually, he seems to enjoy the building part so much that when he's finished, he plays with his trains on it for only a couple of minutes before he's pulling it all apart to start over again. But that's got to be great for developing his mind, and his spatial awareness skills in particular. The only downside is when his 12 month old brother starts re-enacting Godzilla movies and wrecking the whole lot.

Brio is quite expensive though, especially the Thomas the Tank Engine range. In fact, with all the different sets and add-ons you could spend thousands on the stuff.

But having said that, the quality is very high, it's incredibly sturdy and a lot of the pieces do come with a 'lifetime' guarantee. This, and the fact that children can get hours of pleasure from it, means that it is still represents good value for money.

However, there are cheaper (and just as good) alternatives around and they all fit together with Brio perfectly well. Some of the cheapest can be found at Tescos.

Also, because it is so well made, you can often find mountains of the stuff at car-boot sales at great prices.