There’s 60% off the Thomas and Friends Junior Point and Learn at Argos, and they’re selling this £9.99 item for £3.99.  It’s out of stock for home delivery, which is just as well since it would cost you more than the item itself does.  I checked a variety of postcodes though, and they still seem to be in stock.

• Point and Learn with Thomas and Friends

I don’t know where the imagination was when I was a child. Seriously, I don’t remember toy shops and speciality stores or even much branded stuff – but then I did grow up in a different country and we only got TV when I was ten, so that may account for it. None the less, I’m pretty certain children today have way more colourful variety than we ever did!  How old does that make me sound!

So this isn’t a huge toy – about the size of one of the reviewers’ hands, if that helps at all?  Little ones turn the dial and press the button to hear Thomas sounds, melodies and character phrases. It’s not rated particularly highly, mainly because it’s smaller than people thought it was going to be… those who rated it on functionality and how happy the recipient was, were thrilled.

Thanks to Babsy Baby at HUKD

The Book People have a pretty great offer on at the moment, but there are a few things you have to do to get this price reduced.

Get 65 Thomas Stories and 4 Chuggington Stories for £31.50

• Discount: 10% Off
• Discount Code: PANCAKE
• Valid Till: Midnight tonight (Thursday)
• Discount: Free Delivery
• Discount Code: AFFREE
• Valid Till: Unknown

So there you have it. You have a saving of £8.49 on top of four free Chuggington books. Excellent. If you have the Points Passport you’ll get 20 Book Points.  The books are aimed at the 3+ age group, and each story has 34 pages. When you pop the Thomas books in your basket, Chuggington - valued at £4.99 - is automatically added to it, so you don't even have to do anything.

I’m not sure about the RRP on this being £195. Has anyone actually paid that for a set of Thomas and Friends books?  I’m not convinced, but 82% off sure sounds impressive.

After tonight the price goes up to £35, which is still good for more than two month’s worth of bed time stories!

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

There’s a great offer on the Thomas And Friends – Thomas and Cranky Playset at Tesco Direct, who are selling the friendly little engine for £10, with £3 for delivery, or free click and collect.  It’s £16.99 from an Amazon seller, so add another £5.13 for shipping, and £27.99, apparently, at Toys R Us.

• Play with Thomas and Cranky

This set comes complete with Thomas, Percy, Crank and the Fat Controller and a foldable play mat that you can take with you anywhere you go.

I don’t think this is the best deal on train playsets at the moment, but if you’re specifically after a Thomas and Friends set, this one is obviously among the best going at the moment and it is cheapest from Tesco right now.

Reviewers say it’s a good product, especially at sale prices, and that the trains are nice and chunky for little hands. The carts apparently separate a bit too easily, which can be annoying, but the kids don’t seem to mind it too much.

The play mat isn’t actually a mat, but cardboard, and it doesn’t go totally flat as it’s been folded in the box, but again – it seems to bug the adults more than the kids.

Thanks to Andywedge at HUKD

You may need to be quick if you want one of these Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train sets because it's RRP is £150 and Debenhams are letting them go for just £45.

• Click HERE to steam over to Debenhams

It's funny you know, I like playing with wooden train sets that require you to push the engines and carriages around the track but I have NO interest in, or desire to play with something like this Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train set.

You're going to need a fair bit of space to set it up  - around two square meters (I can hear dads rejoicing across the land already) - and it comes with a whole host of bits and pieces along with carriages including Annie and Clarabel and, of course, a Thomas engine.

A track mat is included along with all the power supply things you need to make sure your Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train runs on time.

None of this is suitable for youngsters under three years old due to the choking hazard of small parts and you can either collect your Hornby R9271 Thomas and Friends electric train set for free from your local Debenhams or arrange to have it delivered - standard home delivery is free too.

Thanks to redhotdealfinder at HUKD

There’s a simply fantastic offer on the Thomas & Friends, Thomas and Cranky Playset at Tesco Direct: It’s reduced from £40 to £10, saving you a massive £30. At that price, it’s the perfect gift to put in the cupboard for those last minute birthday party invites.

• Choo-choo with Thomas and Cranky

I know this is probably more of a ‘boys toys’ thing, but my daughter is going through a serious phase of loving trains and cars. We visited a playgroup recently and she disappeared for twenty minutes (I could see her, but still) with a box of wooden train tracks that she put together and then played with the trains! I was so impressed – I have no idea where she had even seen a wooden train track before!  We managed to get a play garage off Freecycle recently, and she’s currently totally engrossed in that. And I’m totally happy to encourage unisex toys for play!

The Thomas and Cranky Playset comes with a foldable play mat, made of card, unfortunately, which doesn’t smack of durability to me, but at £10 you can’t really complain.

The playset comes complete with Thomas, Percy, Crank and the Fat Controller.

Thanks to 90DC at HUKD

Tesco have reduced this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset from £40 down to a rather wallet-friendly £10; awesome.

• Click HERE to puff over to Tesco

Ahhh, Thomas the Tank Engine - he's becoming an increasingly distant memory for me now as my youngest grows up, my 17 year relationship with the little blue engine is coming to an end as my eldest really isn't a fan anymore either.

I know that anything Thomas the Tank Engine is expensive, but if you keep an eye out for deals on this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset  then you can save yourself lots of money and earn yourself lots of parental brownie points at the same time.

Your young Thomas fan will be able to help Thomas, Percy and Cranky the Crane load and unload loads of coal at Brendam Docks as long as they're over three years old - purely because of the small pieces included in the set I'm sure.

People who've already bought this Thomas and Friends 'Cranky at Brendam Docks' playset have plenty of good things to say about it...

"This was brought as a Christmas present and was the ONLY thing he played with all of Christmas Day. He loved it. Will buy more Mega Blocks to add to this."

"Excellent product with lots of different ways to build. My little boy loves to make up the cranky crane and uses it to lift the tucks and Thomas.Great imaginative play with easy to hold pieces. Has played with it every day and is able to create a new story every day. great interchangeable pieces too."

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

There’s 40% off the Thomas & Friends Story Maker set at Amazon, reducing its price to £6 including delivery.

• Create your own Thomas and Friends story line

You’ll find everything you need to create your own Thomas and Friends story book in this kit. You can use the printed scenes, pencils and stickers to create your own unique story. There are over 200 stickers and 10 pages supplied, so you can pick and choose your favourite characters and make one long story or a number of short ones.

You place your finished pages into the Story Maker cover, bind them all together using the special ribbon.  You can add page number stickers and there’s even a Fat Controller bookmark.  Pop your name on the front cover and your personalised Thomas adventure becomes your very own bedtime story.

Doesn’t it look like a fun activity? I think so – nice and creative and fun.

If you've missed out on previous deals for this Complete Thomas the Tank Engine Book Collection, here's another chance for you.  You can pick up a complete set of Thomas the Tank Engine books, presented in a special box, for £29.75 - the list price is a whopping £195!

• Click HERE to go over to The Book People

If you're a regular visitor to PlayPennies the you'll know that my youngest son was a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan and, since he was born, me and his dad have bought him pretty much all of the Thomas books one or two at a time.

Those Thomas the Tank Engine books were the bedtime books of choice for a good few years until he decided he was 'too grown-up for Thomas' and any suggestions of reading his favourites were met with derision and disgust.

However, it seems that Thomas hasn't been totally abandoned; the other day he asked to be read 'Alfie', apparently it's okay to go back to Thomas now and again - hurrah!

Sixty five books make up this Complete Thomas the Tank Engine book collection and you'll notice that the price on the Book People website is £35 - to drop it down to the price I quoted, and get free delivery, you'll need to enter FESTIVE15 into the promotion code box in your basket.

Thanks to shazar at HUKD

Play are selling this Thomas the Tank Engine dinner set for £2.99 instead of £6.99; from experience, I know this will put a smile on the face of any young Thomas fan.

• Click HERE to steam over to Play

Both my sons were great fans of Thomas the Tank Engine.  My youngest has just grown out of him now - apparently Thomas isn't for 'big boys', he's all of five and a half! - and so Thomas is now forever consigned, for me, to the place where happy memories live.

Both boys had Thomas the Tank Engine dinner sets and both of them, on occasion, would get MOST upset if their favourite plates happened to be getting a soaking in the dishwasher when it was time for them to have something to eat; very bad planning on my part!

The bowl and plate with this Thomas the Tank Engine dinner set are made of melamine, and the beaker from hard plastic.  I can't find any information as to whether or not everything can go in the dishwasher - I imagine the plate and bowl can, probably the beaker too but you can never be sure with those sometimes.

There's no delivery to pay with Play if you live on the UK mainland, so £2.99 is your total outlay.

Thanks to melissab32 at HUKD

Argos Ebay have a Thomas And Friends Children’s Metal Folding Chair on offer for £3.99. Add 99p for delivery and overall you’re paying £4.98.

• Sit down with Thomas and Friends

We actually own the Peppa Pig version of this chair, and while it’s a little like Martin’s chair in Frasier’s lounge, (it sticks out like a sore thumb and doesn’t match with anything else, in case you’ve never watched Frasier) it is a total hit with our little girl.

It’s ‘her’ chair and she sits on it whenever she is in the lounge. We paid a bit more than £4.98 for our, but it’s been totally worth it.

The Thomas and Friends version has a Thomas logo in it, and a tubular steel frame. The chair bit is fabric, but it’s pretty strong and can handle up to 50kg of weigh – although you’d have to have pretty miniscule hips as it’s only 38cm in width.

This is not an adult sized chair. It is only 53cm in height, so it’s easy for a child to get on to and off of. It’s also one of those ‘funny’ ones as they say it’s suitable for children three years and over, but my daughter has adored hers since she was 18 months old!

Thanks to chuckiedoll at HUKD

If you have a young Thomas the Tank Engine fan in your household/family/circle of friends then you might want to nip over to The Book People and grab one of these Thomas the Tank Engine complete book collections.

The recommended list price for this set of 65 books is a whopping £195 - The Book People will let you have them for £35.00 but be warned, these little steam engine books don't tend to stay in stock for very long!

• Click HERE to steam over to The Book People.

Both my sons were big Thomas fans, one is 17 now and has moved on from reading his Thomas the Tank Engine books; the other one recently turned five and is, apparently, "Too much of a big boy for Thomas any more..."

And so my Thomas the Tank Engine story reading days are over and I'll have to trust that these 65 Thomas stories, in their rather lovely presentation box, will go to homes that would have been as loving as mine.

Books make a fabulous present and with Christmas coming up soon, I'd wager you know a little Thomas fan who'd love to unwrap these 65 books on Christmas morning.

Delivery is free with this purchase too, so £35 is all you'll need to pay.

Thanks to Tamara at HUKD

*ALERT!  ALERT!* Potential early Christmas present deal!

Argos are selling this Mega Bloks Thomas at Misty Island for LESS THAN HALF PRICE - £17.99 instead of £59.99

• Click HERE to steam on over to Argos

If you have a young Thomas the Tank Engine fan in your household, or extended family, buying presents for them is dead easy.

Anything Thomas - whether it's branded as Thomas the Tank Engine or Thomas and Friends, is always expensive and is always guaranteed to make a bit of dent in your bank balance.

Such is the way of it, always has been and always will be so it pays to keep your eyes peeled for, and take advantage of, deals like this Mega Bloks Thomas at Misty Island set as and when they pop up.

There are 101 pieces to build and rebuild Thomas and James’ travel route through the mountains to Misty Island, using accessories like a lake, tunnels, break-through barricades and rock slides.

Mega Bloks Thomas At Misty Island comes with Thomas and James, well it would be a bit of a poor show without them, and is suitable for little Thomas fanatics aged three and over.

You can reserve and collect for free in-store, if your local store has stock, or you can arrange for home delivery within two working days and will cost you an additional £5.95.

Thanks to muzhaque at HUKD

I'm getting rather fond of Bargain Crazy - they're throwing some really good deals out there for you guys!

This Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit is guaranteed to be a hit with any young Thomas fan.

• Click HERE to go over to Bargain Crazy

My days of buying anything Thomas the Tank Engine are over, unless a friend or family member has a baby boy, as both my boys are now too old for Thomas.

But back in their Thomas days I KNOW they would have lived in this Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit; they would have wanted to eat in it and, probably, sleep in it.

The original price for this Thomas ball pit was £42.99 which, to my mind, is h u g e l y expensive.  But £9.99?  Well THAT'S more like it!

It doesn't come with any balls (but they're not hard to find and we often have deals on ball pit ball packs) and the official blurb does say you can fill Thomas with water and use him as a paddling pool too.

Either way, the Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit can be used both indoors and outside, if the Great British summer isn't letting everyone down (I'm out of the country at the moment, so I have NO clue what the weather's like back in Blighty - here's hoping it's sunny for you guys!).

Happy Splashing or 'Ball Pitting'!

Use this Toys R Us promotional code to get 20% off top brands both online and in store. It is just for this weekend though, so you've only got till the end of Sunday to get this discount!

Click here to use your Toys R Us promotional code

• Discount: 20%
• Applies to: selected top brands
• Promotional code: 9008089999998
• Expires: 7th August 2011

To use this code in store, click on the link above and print out the coupon that appears. To use this code online you’ll need to go through to checkout. You’ll have to either log in or register on the site. Then when you get to the Check Out page, enter it in the Coupon Details box and hit apply. You don’t need to enter any other details to see if the code works.

The brands you can use this code on are Disney Pixar Cars, Thomas and Friends, Lego, Hello Kitty, Little Tikes, Nerf, VTech, Winnie The Pooh, Smart Trike, and Crayola.

There's some popular and normally rather expensive brands in there. Particularly the Lego stuff - always nice to get a 20% discount on that!

Thanks to seafrance2 at HUKD!

Calling all Chuggington and Thomas the Tank Engine fans!!!

The Toy Shop/The Entertainer have taken 50% off  Chuggington and Thomas toys, there are some rather lovely bargains to be had on large sets or single items.

• Click HERE to steam over to The Toy Shop for CHUGGINGTON
• And HERE if you want THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

Ahhh long gone are the days of Thomas and Chuggington for me, so you can have these deals all to yourself.

My eldest son - now almost 17 - used to love Thomas as did my youngest son, but both of them are a bit old for him now.

Chuggington has gone the same way too; my youngest gave everyone in the family Chuggington names - he was Wilson, my eldest was Brewster and my daughter was KoKo, it really was far too cute.

To list all the items included in the Chuggington and Thomas the Tank Engine 50% off sale would take forever but I will tell you that the big Chuggington Interactive All Round Chuggington set is now £30 instead of £59.99, and the Thomas 'Racing Down the Rails' wooden set is £35 instead of £75.

Thomas and Chuggington toys always tend to sell out fast, I just thought I'd warn you, and delivery is free if you spend over £30.

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

Calling all Thomas the Tank Engine and Hornby train set enthusiasts, young and old alike!

Amazon are selling this Hornby R9271 00 guage Thomas and Friends passenger train set for less then half price, £64.61 instead of £139.99.

• Click HERE to steam over to Amazon

I know nothing about train sets, but I do know a good priced deal when I see one; this is one.

We have a huge Hobbycraft near us in my little part of the country and there is an ENTIRE section devoted to Thomas and Friends Hornby stuff; it's always packed with men and boys browsing, ooohing and aahhhhing over the engines and various bits of track and tree accessories.

This Hornby Thomas and Friends passenger train set comes with various engines and carriages including Annie and Clarabel (Thomas' coaches - I might not know much about train sets but I do know my Thomas characters!).

You'll get Thomas, of course, and one open wagon, a milk tanker and a cattle wagon.

Along with that it comes with a power supply unit, one train controller, two track straights, two track double straights, a 2nd RAD curve, eight track double curve 3rd RAD, a Lh point, one buffer stop (oooh I know that that is too - the rest of the track stuff is like some alien language, I hope it means something to you), one power track and a track mat; PHEW!

It's too late to have this delivered for Father's Day (which is tomorrow) if you have a grown-up Thomas Hornby fan in your household, but you could buy it, print off a picture and put it inside a card.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

You're either going to love me or hate me for bringing this Thomas and Friends 'Songs from Sodor' DVD to your attention.

• Click HERE to go over to CDWOW

Listen, it could be worse!  It could be on a CD which would, of course, end up being played in the car over and over and over - at least this is on DVD and will remain confined to the house. Unless you have DVD players in your car, in which case...sorry.

My youngest will be five years old next month and he's well and truly done with Thomas now.

I asked him if he wanted me to read him 'Alfie' the other night and he said, "No thanks, Alfie and Thomas are for babies, I'm not a baby anymore - how about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?"

There are 18 songs on this Thomas and Friends 'Songs from Sodor' DVD and it'll cost you £2.99 (that's delivered too) if you buy it from CDWOW; Asda are selling it for £4.94 and Very have it on sale for £6 without delivery.

Thanks to jojogogo at HUKD

Debenhams are selling this rather cute Thomas and Friends mealtime set for just £4.00 instead of £8.00.

• Click HERE to steam over to Debenhams

I do like character mealtime sets 1) they're just lovely for kids and 2) they can be v e r y useful if you have a reluctant or picky eater.

All of my children have gone through funny eating phases during the last 16 years, on occasions mealtimes had the potential to become a battleground and that's no good for anyone.

Having plates, bowls and cups with their favourite characters on them went a little way to calming stormy waters; seriously, don't underestimate the power of such a simple concept.

This Thomas and Friends mealtime set comes with a plate, bowl and glass all bearing the beaming face of Thomas and the Thomas and Friends logo.

They are food safe, dishwasher safe bit you can't put them in the microwave.

The official age recommendation is three years or older, I'm not sure WHY this is - it's not as if there are any small parts presenting a choking hazard...

Standard delivery with Debenhams is £3.99, unless you're spending over £30, and takes about four working days, or you can arrange to collect your Thomas and Friends mealtime set for free from your local Debenhams store if you prefer.

Thanks to fionabh at HUKD

Calling all Thomas the Tank Engine fans - Tesco are selling this Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky at the Docks set for half price, £12.48 instead of £24.97.

• Click HERE to steam over to Tesco

I've been lamenting the 'loss' of Thomas to my youngest son lately, "I'm not really keen on Thomas any more, Star Wars and Ben 10 are much better."

There is an advantage; with Thomas well and truly dumped it does mean I don't have to write Thomas deals in secret!

You know how relentless the pester-power of an almost five-year-old is - if you don’t, and your little treasure isn’t that age yet…you’ll find out! - and when Thomas WAS flavour of the month he would have loved this Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky at the Docks set.

Cranes are still called Cranky in our family and even though he was a miserable crane, everyone had a bit of a soft spot for him.

Take n Play Cranky is a portable play set;  the sides fold down to create an oval track and Cranky the crane pops up with a working crank and magnetic hook.

Together Cranky and Salty work to unload the cargo from the boats using Cranky's extendable crane and then slowly and carefully help to transfer it to the docks.

The Thomas and Friends Take n Play Cranky can help to improve your child's fine motor skills, colour identification and hand-eye coordination - and you thought it was all play and nothing else.

Thanks to loubey at HUKD

Argos are currently selling this Thomas the Tank Engine luggage set for half price, £9.99 instead of £19.99.

• Click HERE to steam on over to Argos

When you’re  a boy of a certain age, any old bag or suitcase just won’t do!

I’ve lost count of the amount of times my boys got upset because they felt the bag I’d given them to pack their things in wasn’t ‘cool’ or ‘boy’ enough, “It’s girly! Everyone will laugh at me!” and no amount of, “No one’s going to be looking at your bags, “ would convince them otherwise.

This 4-piece Thomas the Tank Engine set from Argos will put an end to any tears and tantrums over luggage disappear in a puff of Thomas smoke as it really couldn't be more 'boy like' - unless you have a little lad who ISN'T a Thomas the Tank Engine fan, but show me one of those and I'll eat my virtual hat!

This luggage set has a wheeled bag, gym bag, backpack and a wallet all featuring that loveable little blue Engine.

The dimensions for each are as follows:

• Wheeled bag:   Size (H)46cm x (W)28cm x  (D)11.5cm
• Backpack:  Size (H)26cm x  (W)23 x (D)7.5cm
• Gym bag:  Size (H)38cm x (W)29cm
• Wallet:  Size (H)10cm x  (W)14cm x  (D)4cm

They're in stock for both free in-store collection or home delivery (which will cost you £5.95) and the 63 people who've taken the time to review them on the Argos site are more than happy with them.

Thanks to haylhoo at HUKD