Pull-back Trains

My kids have these pull back train models of the various vehicles in use throughout Taiwan. These toys are solidly made and are great collector’s items, with each set containing an engine and three passenger cars. When the engine car is pulled back completely (to when the spring is completely set, eliciting a click-click sound, when the spring jams?), the trains whiz on ahead at a speed of nearly 1 m/s. While the toys are not large in size, they handle well in the hands of a two year old. The clamp connecting cars is well made, disconnects easily and can require dexterity in correct placement. While it took some time, both children have learned to manage connecting the cars. We have currently two sets that the children are allowed to play with: Kaohsiung MRT train and Taiwan High Speed Rail train.

Kaohsiung MRT Train

We don’t have train tracks specific for these toys, though we cobbled together some plastic PP tracks from a different toy set and placed these trains on them for fun to create a photo opportunity.

Build your own train tracks.

These photos were taken by the children. I helped them along by asking how to frame an image with placement of the train, background image and location on track. Then we proceeded to adjust these parameters around and take a series of photos using my iPad camera. The children took turns pressing the white shutter button.

An old adage is “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I agree, a picture, image or photo can convey meanings that could be a thousand words. In addition to cultivating this interest in capturing a single moment in time, I would also emphasize to my children to write out those thousand words, because of the possibility to flesh out thought processes, ideas, initiations and consequences, when translating meanings into specific words.

Interestingly enough, children have the tendency to find things out on their own. I had bought an Alishan red train set, carefully hidden away in my clothes drawer, and one day I came home to find that they had somehow found that train toy, as if retrieved from out of thin air. These trains are definitely collector’s items.