Sunday, December 14, 2014

Best Toy Buy: Wheelies

Read any of my Week In Review's and you've probably discovered that we're really big fans of Fisher Price's Little People sets. We give even more love to Fisher Price's Wheelies sets. These are a chunkier, meant for toddlers version of Hot Wheels, yet I've seen eight year olds happily sit down to play with these. As a someone who provides care for all ages of children, my favorite things about Wheelies are:

  • Safe for all ages to play with (no small or easily removable parts), however kids younger than 12 months tend to use them more as a chew toy than actual playing
  • A good variety of sets to choose from of various prices
  • Durable
  • They keep the kiddos entertained and busy, all while using their imagination
  • Affordable price points
  • Keep all ages of kids interested
A few of our favorite sets:

Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies All About Working
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies All About Racing
Fisher-Price Little People Cars 2 Wheelies, 4-Pack: There's also Princess Wheelies. You can also buy individual Wheelies for around $3.99 a piece (Walmart, Target, and Toys R Us usually have a decent selection). However, it's a much better deal to buy them in as big of a pack as you can find.
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Train Toy, 2-Pack
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies All About Trucks
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Sports Car Carrier
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Rev 'n Sounds Race Track: The kids love having races with this set.
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies: Cars Radiator Springs Playset: This is a simple set that is the easiest for younger kids to play with. The older kids love the sets that involve racing other cars.
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Roller Coaster Playset
Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Stand 'n Play Rampway

Daycare is receiving this set as a new toy gift after the holidays (it helps get us through the rest of winter when daycare Christmas presents are brought out after the new year!):
Fisher-Price Little People City Skyway


Don't have room for one of these sets? The kids love our rolling the Wheelies around on a play mat (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=24314636&cp=&parentPage=search) and setting up entire Wheelie towns. If you're not near a Toys R Us for shopping, try one of these play mats: LA Rug Country Fun 19-by-29-Inch Play Rug or Learning Carpets Giant Road LC 124. These mats are great because they roll up for storage. My boys have also used the Wheelies play mat (which is slightly padded) instead of a rug in their bedroom and it worked just as well (slightly better because spills of any kind simply wipe up rather than needed to be scrubbed out).
Even as my oldest son and oldest daycare child near seven, I don't foresee these cars losing their "coolness" anytime soon.