If you are a regular visitor to our playroom or to this blog it cannot escape your notice that Esther and William are both train mad.

Totally and utterly, absolutely and completely obsessed with engines, track, coaches and carriages.

Everything they are given, everything they hear or see, in their three year old minds can be turned into some kind of train related paraphernalia.

And we all have train names, from Thomas.

Daddy is Diesel 10, I am Belle, Esther is usually Victor or Stephen and William, Rosie or Luke.

Today was a joyous day in our house as William realised that it is the 22nd. 22. The number of narrow gauge engine, Luke.

For the last few months we have been playing with trains of all sorts, shapes and sizes.

One of our favourite train brands is definitely Janod.

Because of this we were over the moon when the Great Little Trading Company asked us if we would like to review a Janod play set, some trains and track around the time of Esther and William’s birthday.

The Janod set and trains are now well integrated with all our other brands and are used daily in Esther and William’s small world play.

Janod Town Play Set
This is a wonderful stand alone set that enables children to set up a little town and recreate scenes from their daily life or act out stories from books or things they have seen on TV. The set comes with people, vehicles, trees, traffic lights, road signs and a busy station scene which is also a sturdy storage box. The cars can be used on the floor or a play table but also work on wooden track. Esther and William are not always keen about cars going on train track but with this set that seems to be okay. The cars are great for chucking in your bag when you go out for the day. The trees are wonderful for adding to train tracks and small world messy and sensory play activities. At £25 this is a great value set that is stored in a beautiful box making it a lovely addition to any playroom or bedroom.

Janod Town Train
This engine is fondly known as Gordon in our house. A big strong engine with a tender full of coal that pulls the express. With two beautifully painted coaches this is a lovely train that is compatible with all wooden tracks.

Janod Farm Train
Known as Henry in our playroom the Janod Farm Train has a truck for transporting animals, a milk tanker and a cargo wagon. So much storytelling potential with just one train!

Large Wooden Train Track
This rubber wood track fits together nicely with Brio and Bigjigs and other brands of wooden railway. This set provides two bridges with a figure of eight inside a large circular track. It is plenty big enough for twins to enjoy together which is very important for us. Now combined with all our other track we can fill our, not very small, playroom and it is a wonderful world of engine play.

Often the first thing that Esther and William ask for when they wake, especially at the weekend, is for Diesel 10 to build them a great big train track on the floor. Daddy, Diesel 10, prides himself on complex engineering and creative layouts to challenge the needs of our train mad twins.

The Janod trains and accessories have added another level of play in the form of narrative and conversation.

Esther and William always narrate their play so having traffic lights and road signs to discuss was wonderful for them. They like to know the meaning of things and so we talked about signs using symbols. They have been up to speed with traffic lights since before they were two!

The people are brilliant as my future actors are rather good at giving characters voices. It is a magical experience to watch them play and join in when I am invited. Often they do prefer me to watch.

Having the over and under bridge segment is great for children learning to play together. You have to share and compromise things often easier accomplished in the morning rather than late in the afternoon.

Esther and William adore their trains and there is a really nice feel to the Janod sets. They inspire storytelling and prompt children to wonder who people are, where they might be going and what they could be doing.

The Janod Play Sets open up a whole new world for creative minds and are the perfect gift for young children this Christmas.

Give a child the world!

William has asked Father Christmas for the circus one to go on the play platform in his new bedroom!

I cannot wait to see his little face when he climbs the stairs and finds it there.

You too can make your children’s dreams come true. Have a look at The Great Little Trading Company for ideas!

We were sent one play set, one large track and two trains for the purpose of this review.