We have a two year old boy and a one year old girl and they both have a lot of fun with this, either with the track put together or Thomas on his own. The track can be configured in a number of different ways, not just in a loop, and the Thomas toy works on its own just as well because of the way it automatically changes direction when it runs into something. Batteries seem to go on forever and the track is as tough as old boots, having proved so far to be beyond even their capacity to break things. Great fun for the Thomas fan in your life.