Best soft toy cars for a safe play environment
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Toys cars are fun, but you may not want to buy hard die-cast models for your little one just yet.
Fortunately, there are great soft toy cars for sale such as 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 toy cars and what you should pay attention to when buying.
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
These are already fun for the smallest children from 9 months. Perfect size for your baby and nice and soft.
Best soft toy cars for toddlers
Very nice design and bright colors, that's what the school bus, racing and police car from B. Toys look like.
Best soft toy car for preschoolers
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.
Best plush toy car
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.
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Soft toy cars buying guide
What should you pay attention to when buying soft toy cars?
Sustainability
This mainly concerns whether the cars can handle small baby mouths, except for the stunt car from Air Hogs.
Can it handle frequent sucking? For example, Melissa & Doug's cars can be detached so that you can wash them. That's great!
And you can easily remove the soft plastic from B. Toys.
The durability of Air Hogs' soft wheels is perfect, but the plastic car itself and the engine inside are a weak spot.
These are the things to watch out for.
Quality of driving
With toy cars you want them to be able to drive well. With the baby cars it is not super important yet.
A few things to watch out for are:
- the distance from the wheels to the chassis: some toy cars run into problems so they don't drive very well
- the rigidity of the shaft: some toy cars are very wobbly so the wheels can move far in and out, and still rub
- the quality of the wheels: is it plastic or are there really rubber wheels on the tires? Rubber rolls a lot better
- 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
Much of the car's replayability is in how well it drives, but there are other factors that determine how often they return to it.
Age also plays a part. Is it a car that stays on the left 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 rated each of the cars on this list on these parts on a 5-point scale.
Best Soft Toy Cars Reviewed
Melissa & Doug Soft Pull-Back Cars
- Nice and soft and suitable for babies
- Fabric is removable for washing
- 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 nice introduction for your child to friction cars. They can pull them back and they ride nicely on the floor. Real cause and effect toys.
They are also safe to put in the mouth for exploring. And Melissa & Doug has anticipated this by being able to detach the fabric cars from the undercarriage.
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 a bit more expensive, and you don't actually need 4.
But very fun to play and they last a long time.
B Toys Mini Wheee-is
- Soft plastic is suitable for small children
- Pull back system works well
- 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.
While Melissa & Doug really focuses on babies with the soft cars, 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 per car is comparable.
Spin master Air Hogs Stunt Shot
- Super soft foam rubber wheels
- Can do funny stunts
- 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 easily charge the car 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 car for toddlers!
Yottoy Little 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.
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 biased since we're talking about toy cars here and this is more of a cuddly toy, but I wanted to put it on the list anyway.
Conclusion
Soft toy cars make your home a lot safer. Especially if you still 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.