Fire up your engines and get ready to go! With their vivid colors, booming engines and screeching tires, it’s easy to see why race cars are wildly popular with kids.
There are plenty of reasons for parents to love them, too. Race cars are fantastic for imaginative play and developing fine motor skills. Every roll, ramp and crash helps children understand cause and effect and encourages dexterous control. Cars for the littlest racers can teach colors, descriptions, action verbs and other vital vocabulary. More advanced racing sets even allow budding engineers to build cars, design tracks and much, much more.
So, if you want your speed racer to get in the educational fast lane, check out these incredible toy race cars!
7 Best Race Cars
 | Lego Juniors Race Car Rally | Check price at |
 | Hot Wheels 9 Car Gift Pack | Check price at |
 | Fisher Price Little People Sit ân Stand Skyway | Check price at |
 | Educational Insights Design and Drill Race Car Lowest Price | Check price at |
 | Lego City Great Vehicles Race Car | Check price at |
 | Mega Race Car Carrier | Check price at |
1. Anki Overdrive Starter Kit
Ready for the ride of your lives? The future is here today with the Anki Overdrive Starter Kit! Picture Mario Kart on your living room floor and you’ll get the idea of this incredible racing game. Using the accompanying smart phone app, you can battle your friends or a series of AI characters in any of its 4 game modes. The AI takes care of the turns, leaving you to concentrate on tactical choices. Use weapons to take out your rivals, shields to protect yourself and boosters to soar into the lead. Each car and character has a unique driving style and you can level up as you progress through the tournament. Design your own tracks—even use pillows or sofas to add elevation—and watch as the AI learns and masters the course. You won’t believe your eyes with this jaw-droppingly awesome racer!
Ages: 8+
2. Lego Juniors Race Car Rally
The Lego Juniors Race Car Rally building set is a guaranteed winner! Coming in a handy Lego-shaped box, this 350-piece set is perfectly designed for your future engineers’ little fingers. It comes packed with goodies, including 2 race cars, 2 drivers, 2 traffic cones, 4 oil drums, a finish line and a podium. With clear child-friendly instructions, you can sit back and watch as your youngsters piece it all together and start zooming around the track. The set also includes some extra pieces for creative play. What’s more, you can take the cars apart to construct a tow truck or a speedy black race car. So, strap on your hard hats and get building!
Ages: 4-7
3. Hot Wheels 9 Car Gift Pack
Get rollin’ with this awesome Hot Wheels 9 Car Gift Pack. Fans love these die-cast little racers for their cool, varied, colorful designs. Each incredible collection is different and comes with one unique exclusive vehicle. Hungry for more? Why not check out the 20 Car Gift Pack, Race Case Track Set or City Stunt Loop Track Set? Time to burn rubber!
Ages: 3+
4. Fisher Price Little People Sit ‘n’ Stand Skyway
Whether you want to take a seat or stay on your feet, we’ve got just the toy for you! The Fisher Price Little People Sit ‘n’ Stand Skyway is a huge, colorful, durable racing car playset. Choose from two modes (sitting or standing) and zoom the two included Little People Wheelies cars around the many fun ramps. Speed around the town and fill up your tank in the sitting mode or zip down the steep mountain trail in the three foot tall standing mode. Whichever set-up you choose, it’s guaranteed to be big fun for little people!
Ages: 18 months – 5 years
5. Educational Insights Design and Drill Race Car
Get to know the drill with the Educational Insights Design and Drill Race Car! Using the included kid-friendly power drill, your little ones can build their own car from scratch, drill it all together and then customize the design. Building confidence, critical thinking skills and cooperation, this building set is a ton of constructive fun. Includes seven snap-together parts, 15 bolts, one motorized mini power drill and a sticker sheet. Make sure your kids are streets ahead with this awesome educational playset!
Ages: 3+
6. Lego City Great Vehicles Race Car
Build up to the big race in style! The Lego City Great Vehicles Race Car is a superb 100-piece construction set. With a movable spoiler and unique racing wheels, the finished car is a beautifully designed speedster. This popular kit comes with a Lego driver with a racing helmet and a liftable winner’s trophy. Have you got what it takes to be the champ?
Ages: 5-12
7. Mega Race Car Carrier
It’s time to get carried away—with the marvelous Mega Race Car Carrier from Melissa and Doug! Great for counting and colors, this cute wooden set comes with 6 brightly designed race cars and a 30-inch carrier truck. Raise and lower the truck’s upper deck to load and unload the six cars in order. Drop your racers at the track and let ‘em rip. When they grow tired of screeching tires, load them back on to the truck and head home. All in all, it’s mega fun for mini free wheelers!
Ages: 3-7
So, you’ve seen our Top 7 race cars—what about yours? Have you ever played with any of these toys? Or are your favorite race cars not on our list? Tell us all about it in the comments section below!
Feature image courtesy of Flickr, JD Hancock.