9 year old and wooden train track.

[CoatedInSnow]

DS loves trains. Usually his wooden train tracks are out in his bedroom. He's having a few school classmates over for his birthday soon. Leave the trains out or encourage him to put them away and get out the marble run?

He is ASD, repeating school year, never had people from his class over before. Last year bullying issues but ring leaders have moved up, he is much happier this year. But don't know if he will be laughed at for wooden trains. He does have Lego ones but goes into meltdown mode if anyone else touches them and has already said he doesn't want them out when the others come over.

and he's asking for more for Christmas. Don't know if I should try to divert to Lego instead

Ds 10 loves his wooden track... It's left out all the time. As I know when I stand on it.

Buy him more if he wants them. Will make him happy. Why don't you try asking him if he thinks its a good idea to put them away?

My 10 year old daughter loves using the wooden train tracks when we visit friends, they have a wooden table type thing so you can have the whole set up with a station and sidings.

I would of thought a marble run is more 'babyish' than a train set (if the children were going to tease him). Adult model train collecting is a huge thing - so your son should be proud of his interest. I would love to have a giant Hornby Train set but too expensive and no space - so I have a Duplo one. I'm 43! I displayed it at a model railway show this year. 9 is fine for a wooden train set - and if his friends tease him then they are not his friends.

I don't think his friends will make fun. They'll probably enjoy playing with it particularly if they haven't played trains for a while.
Ask your DS if he's ok with them playing with it or if he wants to put it away to keep it safe.
I don't think there's an age limit on enjoying marble run.

and if his friends tease him then they are not his friends.
That is true, but then it would be too late. I genuinely don't know if he understands the concept of friendship. According to his teacher, the rest of the class treat him like their mascot. Which is better than last year when he was just a target for ridicule.

This is like the marble run he has

so they could each build a small one of their own.

Ds (10, also ASD) had a friend over recently for a very rare play together, I was anxious that the other child might laugh about the substantial number of soft toys DS still has but when we arrived home the boy excitedly said “oh you have the same massive stuffed xxxx toy as me!” And they spent the afternoon happily playing each with a stuffed toy next to them.
Leave the trains, if they are unkind then you will know not to have them again.

Ooh that is a very cool marble run. I think 10 year olds will be happy playing with both (some may not admit it but secretly they will). My daughter is also 10. Very into dolls. Her classmates act like they are 'too old for that sort of thing' but when they come round to play what do they always want to play with - the dolls!

My DCs are 10, they both have soft toys, dd has Sylvanian stuff and ds has someone his younger toys. None of their friends have ever said anything about them. I don't think dc always grow up as quickly as we think they do.

In fact ds best friend has a soft toy he brings over.

My 12 year old has ASD too and loves his wooden train set. I've known a few 9 and 10 year olds who have played with it too.

no, no, no, the marble run needs to be packaged up immediately, and sent to me

My 12 year old gets the train track out sometimes! His mates think it's fun.

I think with the train track it becomes less about the trains and more about building the track. My dn at a similar age challenged himself to use every piece of track in my dc's collection when they came to visit. It was huge.

Leave it out.

DS is 10yo & would happily play a few minutes with the Brio.
Maybe put away the Thomas-T-TE trains. But other engines fine.

I just did some googling, there is a channel on YouTube called Izzy's Toy Time, they look to have a massive amount of track but they have done one just of curved pieces. It looks fun.

ps: 10yo DS has a huge selection of soft bears he actively shows off. One bear is 5' tall. "My bear is bigger/softer/whatever than yours"