I have two sons, 7 and 3. The 7 year old is a good boy but can't be still, and we have to play music in the background so he can focus on school work, other wise he falls on the floor and laughs and does silly stuff. He got caught playing with matches and played army all the time, while I do not mind him playing army, we did stop him from watching any more shows like man/wild, survivorman wetc that show how to live outside. He was having trouble seperating fact from fiction and thought everything he saw was real(hence trying to start fires in the yard). I had the 3 oldest(one is a girl) help me build a 4x5 layout. On Christmas I gave it to my 7 yr old. It is HO scale, but it has given him a new focus. He has calmed down some and spends time thinking of what to add to his layout. He wants a farm in one area, an old west town inanother and a city in a thrid. I remind him since it is 4x5 it may not have room for all that. It keeps him planning and thinking. He rearranges the house and adds cowboys and cows (HO scale) that he got for his birthday. He does have some army on it, but it is no longer his only focus. I was hoping to broaden his scope with the train and looks like it has worked thus far. We took a 4x5 plywood, glued 1/2 inch foam to it, 1x2 along the bottum for support against warping and to grab when moving it. stacked some foam to make hills, painted it dirt color, glued grass, dug a hole in the foam, painted the bottom black, and sides dirt color, added water effects a layer at a time, on the top latyers added a few sprinkles of grass to add depth and 3d and grass etc float on water anyway. He added his toys r us car carrier that is close to scale. For roads we took the O scale foam road bed and glued them and added a bachman crossing with the arms that drop when a train goes by. I gave him a few trees and when he behaves I give him a few more so he has to earn them. I was getting tired of having to hold him to calm him down when he was too excited and this seems to help calm him down some. I plan on building a O scale for my other one when he is old enough to remember it.
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