Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Toy Review Tuesday: Little Tikes Push & Ride Racer

13 months old on the push & ride racerThis was the perfect first riding toy for Matthew. He got it for his 1st birthday and was on it when he was 13 months old. The seat was just the right height and width for him. At 13 months, he was 28-1/2 inches tall and just beggining to commando crawl (tummy crawl). I liked the fact that his feet could touch the ground when seated on this. As a rider, it's very sturdy and solid. I never worried about it tipping over.

He had enough torso strength to maintain his balance and stay on. He only slipped off twice. But I was also usually nearby to help him keep his balance until he got used to riding.

push & ride racer hiIt took him a couple of weeks to learn to propel forward. The rider rolled with so little effort on the linoleum kitchen floor than on carpet so we started on the linoleum. His discovery was accidental. We had put a big sticker on the front. He was leaning over trying to reach it while seated, causing the toy to move forward. So he would lean forward to make it move and then follow with both feet pushing off at the same time.

It wasn't until he was 14 or 15 months old when he started using his feet more than his weight to move the rider and could go on the carpet. And he was probably at least 17 months old when he could propel with alternating feet and steer.

pushing the push & ride racerHe started using this as push toy when he was 21 months old, which was the same month he started walking independently up to 3 or 4 feet at a time. He could also pull up to stand using the back of the rider. It didn't tip over when he pulled himself up on it but it would roll away sometimes, especially if it was on linoleum or tile flooring.

Overall, a good, simple, sturdy riding toy that Matthew enjoys. It has seen many miles of use in our house and will see many more in the upcoming years. We tried using it outside a couple of times but our cement driveway scratched up the wheels and made it harder to steer. So this remains an indoor toy.

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