Best soft toy cars for a safe play environment

I enjoy writing these articles for my readers, you guys. I don't accept payment for writing reviews, my opinion on products is my own, but if you find my recommendations helpful and you end up buying something through one of the links I may be able to receive a commission on that. More information

Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?

Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.

Toys cars are fun, but you may not want to buy hard die-cast models for your little one just yet.

Fortunately, there are wonderfully soft ones toys cars for sale like this set from Melissa & Doug that your child can play with (and suck on!). A very nice set of 4 cars with pull back action that holds your child's attention.

In this guide I look at the best soft ones toys cars and what you should pay attention to when buying.

Best soft toy cars

We look at the top options in a short overview. Then I'll go into more detail about each of these choices.

Overall best soft toy cars

Melissa & DougSoft Pull-Back Cars

These are already fun for the smallest children from 9 months. Perfect size for your baby and nice and soft.

8.5
Toy score
Product image

Best Soft Toy Cars for Toddlers (Ages 1 and Up)

B ToysMini Pull Back Cars

Very nice design and bright colors, that's what the school bus, racing and police car from B. Toys look like.

8.5
Toy score
Product image

Best soft toy car for preschoolers

Spin MasterAir Hogs Stunt Shot

If your child already wants an RC car but you are afraid of the frequent pounding against your walls and other things, then there is this Stunt Shot.

8.5
Toy score
Product image

Best plush toy car

YottoyLittle Blue Truck

The Little Blue Truck is from the books of bestseller Jill McElmurry. It doesn't really matter if you know it or not because the bus is great.

6.8
Toy score
Product image

From toddler to toddler activity book collection

Educational games and coloring pages for 3 to 6 years

Your toddler and preschooler will love this e-book, along with the accompanying printables. He or she can play with it at every stage of development, together with mom and dad.

Buy at Bol.com

Soft toy cars buying guide

What should you pay attention to when buying soft toys cars?

Sustainability

This mainly concerns whether the cars small baby mouths can handle, except for the stunt auto from Air Hogs.

Can it handle frequent sucking? The cars from Melissa & Doug, for example, you can detach it so you can wash it. That's great!

And you can easily remove the soft plastic from B. Toys.

The durability of the Air Hogs soft wheels is perfect, but the plastic ones auto itself and the engine inside are a weak spot.

These are the things to watch out for.

Quality of driving

At toys You want cars to drive well. With the baby cars it's not super important yet.

A few things to watch out for are:

  1. the distance from the wheels to the chassis: some toy cars run into problems so they don't drive very well
  2. the rigidity of the shaft: some toy cars are very wobbly so the wheels can move far in and out, and still rub
  3. the quality of the wheels: is it plastic or are there really rubber wheels on the tires? Rubber rolls a lot better
  4. the weight of the car: you may not realize this right away, but the weight of the car plays a very large role in how well it rolls. A heavier car made of diecast or wood rolls a lot better and further than a plastic car

Replayability

A big part of the replayability of the auto It's in how well it drives, but there are other factors that determine how often they return to it.

Age also plays a role. Is it a auto that remains ignored after toddlerhood or can it last longer because it is also suitable for older children?

The number of extra functions also plays a role, such as the stunt possibilities of Air Hogs.

I have each of the cars on this list on these components are assessed on a 5-point scale.

Best Soft Toy Cars Reviewed

Overall best soft toy cars

Melissa & Doug Soft Pull-Back Cars

Product image
8.5
Toy score
To drive
3.9
Replayability
4.4
Sustainability
4.5
Best for
  • Nice and soft and suitable for babies
  • Fabric is removable for washing
Less good
  • Good value for money but set of 4 makes it pricey

These are already fun for the smallest children from 9 months. Perfect size for your baby and nice and soft.

They are 4 safe, soft vehicles, including a school bus, family car, fire truck and police car with cheerful colors.

It is a fun first introduction for your child to friction cars. They can pull them back and they can ride across the floor. Real cause and effect toys.

They are also safe to put in the mouth to explore. And Melissa & Doug has anticipated this through the fabrics cars can be detached from the chassis.

They are attached with Velcro and so you can just put them in the wash.

They are good for the price, but they are equal to 4 cars which makes the set slightly more expensive, and you don't actually need 4.

But very fun to play and they last a long time.

Best Soft Toy Cars for Toddlers (Ages 1 and Up)

B Toys Mini Wheee-is

Product image
8.5
Toy score
To drive
4.1
Replayability
4.4
Sustainability
4.2
Best for
  • Soft plastic is suitable for small children
  • Pull back system works well
Less good
  • Are a bit small to keep baby's attention

Very nice design and bright colors, that's what the school bus, racing and police car from B. Toys look like.

These also have a nice pull-back system so that they can drive themselves.

Where Melissa & Doug with the soft cars really focuses on babies, these are suitable for slightly older children from 1 year.

They become really fun to play with for the older toddlers and toddlers. The plastic is flexible and very soft so that even small children can play with it.

The set is slightly cheaper than Melissa & Doug's but you get 3 cars instead of 4. Ultimately the price is per auto comparable.

Best soft toy car for preschoolers

Spin Master Air Hogs Stunt Shot

Product image
8.5
Toy score
To drive
4.1
Replayability
4.9
Sustainability
3.7
Best for
  • Super soft foam rubber wheels
  • Can do funny stunts
Less good
  • Durability is very disappointing
  • Steering is hard

If your child already wants an RC car but you are not quite ready for it, especially because you are afraid of the frequent pounding against your walls and other things, then there is this Stunt Shot.

The super soft foam wheels ensure that the weight is perfectly distributed and you can even drive over eggs.

Banging against the wall or even a mirror won't hurt anything, and he can even tumble down stairs without damaging anything, not even himself.

This soft characteristic also makes it great for fun stunts like somersaults, 360-degree spins, wheelies, rebounding off walls, racing down stairs, driving over objects and more!

Suitable for children aged 4 to 5 years. You can do the auto easy charging with USB and the controller has 2 AAA batteries.

It doesn't steer very precisely because only the rear wheels turn. With a turn, one of the two wheels slows down so that it turns, the way you want to turn when you row.

It's also not particularly durable. And by that I mean the inside.

You can indeed drive it down the stairs, but if it ends up wrong you can damage the bike with a few crashes.

A very nice soft one auto for toddlers!

Also read: these are the best stunt toy cars we could find

Best plush toy car

Yottoy Little Blue Truck

Product image
6.8
Toy score
To drive
2.1
Replayability
3.6
Sustainability
4.5
Best for
Less good

The Little Blue Truck is from the books of bestseller Jill McElmurry. It doesn't really matter if you know it or not because the bus is great.

With different textures, your baby will love to feel it for a while. Velboa body with velor accents, embroidered door handles, wheels, eyes and lights.

You can press the roof for a beeping sound, which makes exploring even more fun.

Ideal gift for babies 6 months and older. A perfect cuddly and playmate.

The low score of 6,8 is a bit misleading because this is what we are talking about toys cars and this is more of a hug, but I still wanted to put it on the list.

Conclusion

Soft toys cars make your home a lot safer. Especially if you have a small child who sometimes throws something.

But I also have a good option on the list for older children who already want to stunt but can't do it yet!

Also read: these are the best toy cars rated

Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?

Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.

Joost Nusselder, the founder of Speelkeuze.nl is a content marketer, father and loves trying out new toys. As a child he came into contact with everything related to games when his mother started the Tinnen Soldaat in Ede. Now he and his team create helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with fun play ideas.