Kayden loves playing with the bigger cars/trucks and construction vehicles of all sorts, it’s therefore no surprise that when we unboxed the Little Tikes Big Car Carrier, his eyes lit up with joy and he said, “wow” a few times.

The novelty has not worn out, about two months later, well not yet anyway.

First Impressions of the Little Tikes Big Car Carrier:

When I saw that this was a “plastic” toy, I didn’t have high expectations, also the fact that it didn’t come with or require batteries. I thought to myself, “what are you supposed to do with it, just push it around?” How boring!

The Reality

Well, it’s clearly not boring for a toddler! Kayden loves pushing his Little Tikes Big Car Carrier around. He even uses his other smaller toy figurines and places them inside the truck a driver or passenger.  This “plastic” truck is extremely durable. It can carry Kayden who is over 13kgs at the moment. It isn’t a ride-on and it isn’t recommended that kids sit on it, I thought I’d just mention to draw you to the fact of how strong it is.

I have seen some of these car carriers online, in blue and white, I must admit that I love the red and black, which we received, courtesy of Prima Toys – thank you Prima Toys! It comes with two sporty cars, yellow and blue. They can be used to play with or without the truck. The ramp flips down to load the cars onto the truck. The truck decouples from the hauler.

Whenever we go on long drives, we see many car carriers on the road, Kayden is quick to point them out and mention that they look like his.

This toy can be used indoors and outdoors. If you happen to incidentally leave it out in the rain, it’s easy to wipe it clean again.

When I decided to make a quick video (below) to upload to YouTube, I noticed that Kayden had scribbled on the yellow car! Fortunately, I used the magic eraser from Chux and you can’t even tell there were any scribble marks on it.

Conclusion

At an RSP of around R850, I think the Little Tikes Big Car Carrier is very good value. It’s durable. It’s safe, no parts that can hurt a toddler.  It keeps Kayden busy for long periods as he finds imaginative ways to play with his car carrier.

Not everything that doesn’t require batteries to operate isn’t fun! Don’t take for granted the amount of time a child spends pushing a car/truck. It has many benefits. For example, it helps with the development of physical skills. Kayden is in all sorts of positions whilst playing with his car carrier. So there is no doubt that his motor skills are being developed.

It also inspires a child to create scenarios; on some days Kayden is pushing his car carrier to the garage to fill fuel, whilst on other days he is either racing with it or is transporting a new car to the shop for mum or dad.

We don’t dictate how Kayden should play – it’s spontaneous and he comes up with some scenarios which we realise are from some of the YouTube videos he watches – which is great, because they’re educational and it’s great to see that he is able to contextualise the learnings from the video into actual, creative play.

Although this toy is recommended for two years and older, I can see that Kayden will play for it for some time to come and I have no issues with that, as I can see the interest he has in it and the benefits of it.

If you know me or have been following my blog, you will know that I don’t believe in gender-specific toys so I will, therefore, say that I can see some girl children will also love playing with this toy.