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Guest post by Whitney Trujillo, www.themotherlist.com

My son was recently given a fabulous toy from a family friend.  I was amazed at how much learning was packed into one smallish toy train.  Ours happens to be the Fisher-Price Little People Stack ‘n Sort Train, and it really does have it all – building, sorting and all in a train with movable wheels and driver to further my little guy’s imagination.  You can find many toys like this one, and I especially love versions made out of wood (nostalgia).

• The various activity possibilities with this one toy:Stacking the blocks and learning how to manipulate them with those adorable toddler hands.

• Positioning the driver while learning how the train wheels turn and sounding the imaginary choo choo (thankfully, this is one toy without sounds).

• Sorting the shapes and pushing them through the sides of the train.

• Learning all names of each shape: square, circle, octagon and rectangle.

• Studying and matching the colors of the blocks.

Toys like this one have endless options.  I keep reminding myself to ask my son questions to get him thinking and involved.  Things like:

• What color is this?

• What sound does the train make?

• What does the conductor do?

And on and on!  My son loves to have me involved in playtime and with the so many possibilities for this one toy, it keeps it interesting not only for him, but for me as well!

Thank you to friend and entrepreneur, Whitney!  Whitney is the founder of www.TheMotherList.com. Read the Mother List blog at: www.TheMotherList.wordpress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @TheMotherList