Importance of Playing with Car Toys for Kids

November 15, 2024 Globalinfo247

Car toys can simply be defined as a miniature nonfunctioning replica of a car, especially one that children play with for fun and learning. It is therefore nice to take your kids to where they sell car toys within your location and purchase toy cars for kids or toy cars for toddlers as well. In general, toys that can be pushed, pulled, raced, rolled, zoomed, reversed, crashed, and drifted are among the most fun.

Car toys are almost every kid’s best and favourite toys. The car toys otherwise known as toy cars in fact are favourite past times toys for the little crawlers. Car toys can encourage kids to use their imagination and provide hours of entertainment for a wide range of ages. As an added bonus, most sets come with additional accessories such as tracks, tunnels, action figures, and more.

According to Rebecca Parlakian, the senior director of programs at Zero to Three, “Playing with cars is a sensory activity and one that gives children insight into the cognitive concept of cause and effect as they experiment with a hard push or a soft push, or holding the car with lots of pressure or less pressure, they discover how the car reacts”.

“Car play is a form of pretend play, like when kids make beep-beep noises. Adding props like little people to pick up in their toy school bus or setting up buildings made of blocks can enhance this early pretend play. For older babies and toddlers, look for chunky toy cars that are safe to mouth and chew on.”

Meanwhile just because they are cars doesn’t make all toy cars for boys alone, but girls too, and the options are many, ranging from family cars, and campers, to vans, race cars, trash cars, doll cars, and forklifts, available in various sizes suitable for multiple applications, just what the young transport loving souls need.

Playing with small toy cars build a child’s fine motor skills. They develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity in both their hands as kids pick up, carry, throw, push and pull small toy cars around. Fine motor skills are vital. These skills are built upon each other.

Generally, Kids love toys. If you have any doubts about that, just take a child into a toy store. She will probably find a number of things that she feels she just can’t live without. Toys are more than just fun and games for kids. Most toys provide at least some opportunity for children to learn. The best toys engage a child’s senses, spark their imaginations and encourage them to interact with others.

Top 3 Benefits of Car Toys for Kids and Toddlers’ Development

1. Exposure to STEM Learning

STEM learning simply means education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Yet, instead of treating these disciplines as separate, the STEM approach focuses on real-world applications of all four as one cohesive learning model.

But before you go out and buy a dozen toys with a STEM sticker on them, have a look at how toy cars are already fulfilling that type of learning.

Toy cars teach kids about trajectory as they launch their mini cars off a loop-de-loop. They learn about velocity, distance, gravity, weight and so much more.

STEM-based education is all about doing rather than watching. And toy cars and trucks allow children that opportunity even before they walk into a classroom.

Whatever you do, don’t feel that you need to do more as a mom to give your child more access to STEM learning. Trust us, they are learning by playing.

2. Focus on Fine Motor Skills

Playing with small toy cars build a child’s fine motor skills as they develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity in both their hands as kids pick up, carry, throw, push and pull small toy cars around.

Fine motor skills are vital. These skills are built upon each other. So grasping and moving toy cars makes it possible for a child to later hold a pencil, cut with scissors and bead a necklace.

3. Cognitive Development

Toy cars (and trucks) rule. They roll. They race. They crash. They make great booby traps, decent head massagers, and, in a pinch, highly unpredictable street hockey pucks. As it turns out, they also promote kids’ physical and cognitive development.

Children learn through playing. And it’s that play-based learning that builds their understanding (or cognition).

They begin to learn about the world and their role in it. They know they get in a car to drive to places.

Playing with cars and trucks puts them in the driver’s seat for once. Kids love to be in control of their environment. And while they are years away from getting behind the wheel, they can begin to exert their free will as they play with small cars.

They learn about cause and effect when they play with small cars. They learn that it’s possible for a whole to be comprised of individual parts.

They learn the word car first. Soon they know about tires, doors, windows and so on.

The Different Growth Stage of Kids and the Best Car Toys for them

(1) Babies and Toys

Babies are eager to learn about the world around them, and they have much to learn. Every new shape, color, texture, taste and sound is a learning experience for them. Giving your baby toys that are safe and stimulating will help him discover his senses. Rattles and toys that make music are favorites of infants.

Toys with contrasting colors are fascinating to babies and stimulate their developing vision. As they grow, infants can use toys to explore object permanence and cause and effect relationships. They also need objects such as blocks to help them build motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

(2) Toys for Toddlers

Toddlers can play with a wider variety of toys than they did when they were smaller. They might still enjoy some of the toys they played with as babies, and that’s fine. The same blocks they played with a year or two ago can provide them with new and different educational opportunities as their knowledge expands. But they also need toys that are designed with kids their age in mind.

Shape sorters are great for toddlers. They teach them how to match similar items and provide parents the opportunity to teach them the names of the shapes. Lego blocks provide an opportunity to learn more about colors and symmetry while they develop their motor skills.

(3) Toys for Preschool and School-Aged Children

When children reach preschool age, it’s time to start learning about letters, numbers and language skills. There are lots of toys that encourage this type of learning, from simple alphabet puzzles to high-tech electronic gadgets. These can give your child a head start by introducing her to the things she will be learning in school.

Kids who are in school can supplement their learning with fun and educational toys. Giving them the opportunity to have fun while practicing the things they are learning in school will increase their retention of those things. And when your child finds an educational toy she really likes, she will be more likely to play with it, reinforcing the things she has learned.

Children can learn a lot from playing. When you give your child educational toys and play with them with her, it gives her a chance to bond with you, learn, and have fun at the same time. And making education enjoyable will help your child retain the things she learns and develop a positive attitude toward learning.

10 ways kids can play with car toys

Toy cars or car toys represent popular toys that can be found in most toy chests and daycares. Although they are meant to be used on floors and play mats, in this article you will discover 10 other ways to play with them. After all, there’s nothing better than creating new activities using material we already have on hand.

(1) Paint

Use your toy cars as paint brushes. Simply press the wheels in paint and let children roll them across large pieces of cardboard.

(2) Which ones go together?

You will need car toys and cardboard. Arrange your toy cars on the cardboard and trace the contour of each one. Have children associate each toy car to the correct shape.

(3) A giant path

Use colourful adhesive tape to draw a long path on the floor of your daycare. Provide toy cars and encourage children to pick one they can drive along the path. Add tiny houses and garages along the path.

If you wish, have children decorate cardboard boxes to represent these buildings and any other ones they wish to add along your path. Note: This is a great rainy day activity.

(4) A garage for each car

You will need several small cardboard boxes. With your group, paint each box using a different color as part of an arts & crafts activity. Once the paint is dry, set the boxes on the floor. Children will enjoy rolling toy cars towards the garages they’ve created. Encourage them to associate each car to a garage of the corresponding color (example: a red car in a red garage).

(5) Letter tracing

Draw large letters on 8.5 in x 11 in paper. Press the wheels of your toy cars in paint before using them to trace each letter. If you wish, laminate the letters so you can wash them off at the end of the activity and reuse them.

(6) Reproducing models

You will need different sizes of toy cars, cardboard, and crayons. Encourage children to trace the outline of the toy car they prefer. Once this step is done, ask them to represent the car by coloring their car outline using the same colors and by drawing the same designs and/or writing the same words on it. When everyone is done, use their drawings for a simple association game. Children must try to identify the car each child reproduced.

(7) Car wash

Fill a bin with soapy water and add toothbrushes. Let children add toy cars to the bin and use the toothbrushes to scrub them clean.

If you want to turn this into a larger project, build a village with your group. Use colourful adhesive tape to draw a road network and include a tiny container filled with water to represent a car wash. Let children add to your village as they see fit.

(8) Unique car races

Draw a start and finish line on the floor. Have children move the cars from the start to the finish line, pushing them with a specific body part (nose, elbow, feet, blowing on them with their mouth, etc.).

(9) Magnetic cars

Use a wooden stick to create a fishing rod by attaching a long string and magnet to it. Use metal toy cars. Encourage children to attach the magnet to the roof of a toy car and pull on the fishing rod to roll it across the floor.

(10) Drawing with cars

Glue a marker to the front of a toy car (see picture) and invite children to roll it on a piece of paper to draw.

Have fun!

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