Teaching your children to tinker under the hood of a car is one of those bonding moments many fathers look forward to. If they are not quite the age to properly handle a wrench, however, you could get the tyke started with this Car Lover’s Engine Repair Playset.
A kid-friendly recreation of the front half of a car, the toy lets children pop the hood and tinker with the engine like in an actual vehicle. Of course, it’s not as complex as a real car’s engine with parts that are easier to take apart, but it’s a decent-enough replica that kids can actually learn some skills they can find useful down the line.
The Car Lover’s Engine Repair Playset features multiple removable car components, including the cowling, spark plugs, wing nuts, and more, along with a wrench, a screwdriver, and other functional replicas of real mechanic’s tools. Kids can change the oil, check levels periodically, change the air filter, test the brakes, change the tires, and a whole lot of other things people do when performing maintenance on real vehicles. Once they’re done taking the car apart and putting it back together, they can get behind the wheel and push it around to drive it. It comes with built-in engine sounds (that only plays when it’s correctly put together), a functional horn, and working headlights, so the half-car can be driven around the house once they get it in working condition.
Construction is plastic, so the toy is lightweight, with no dangerous parts. It requires eight AAA batteries to use.
Available from Hammacher Schlemmer, the Car Lover’s Engine Repair Playset retails for $119.95.