Peter, a Wolf, and Thomas the Tank Engine

I loved Prokoviev's "Peter and the Wolf" as a child, but didn't expect my 2-year-old to be interested in it for a few years. However, we heard it on the radio one time and he loved it, so I bought the CD for him. He still listens to it with fascination a year later. Here it is, with Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Carnival of the Animals (we don't have this CD, but it is now on my list of CD's to get). "Peter and the Wolf" helps kids learn the instruments in the orchestra, and it also helps them pay attention to melodies, as each character has its own melody played by a different instrument. After my son had been listening to "Peter and the Wolf" for a while, he began to notice on his own that the characters in the "Thomas and Friends" episodes each have their own theme tunes. "Hey, that's Edward's song," he pointed out one day, and upon listening I realized that that tune did play every time Edward was puffing along the track. EmilytheCutiePie has most of the themes on YouTube with videos of the engines. Show these videos to your Thomas-obsessesed child so he knows how the themes go, and then have him notice whenever one of them plays during the episodes.