Is it a universal truth that all children love to play with cars? This has certainly been our experience, so far. They are a huge hit with kids young and old. I’ll be the first to admit that I like playing with cars, too. They are fun! Darah and I will line them up and see how far we can push each one down the hallway. Tim especially enjoys breaking out his old “Mighty Mo” dump truck that was his favorite as a child. He says that it brings him a lot of joy to see it being played with by his daughter.

Cars and other wheeled machines are an obvious toy option for little boys, but I want to encourage all the parents of little girls to not overlook them. They are great fun and do seem to keep most kids entertained for long stretches of time. Hands, down, Darah’s favorite gift in her Easter basket this year was her new Hot Wheels car.

We recently got to welcome another little dump truck into our family, and also introduce Darah to her first remote control machine. It is the Cat E-Z Machines Radio Control and it is awesome because it is designed for little ones, ages 2 and up.

I wasn’t sure how a radio control vehicle would be simple enough for such a young child, but it really is. You see, it only has one button! The machine goes forward when you push the button, and when you release it, the machine will spin until you push the button again (this is especially handy when it hits a wall or a piece of furniture).

At this point, Darah is a little bit afraid of a machine that seems to move on its own. She’s happy to play with it without using the remote control, though. As for the grownups, we TOTALLY use the remote control feature. I was never very good at using remote control toys of any sort when I was younger, so this simple toy doesn’t stress me out. Officially, I’m just trying to show Darah that she doesn’t have to be scared and that it is actually the person holding the controller who is moving the car. Unofficially, I’m trying to become the grand master champion of the Cat E-Z Machine. Everyone’s got a dream, right?

The Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control is made by a great company called Toy State. They have a really nice selection of pre-school construction toys, as well as many other toys for the car enthusiast. Their site is most definitely worth a look around! The car we reviewed can be purchased for $12 and is available at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to with the Cat E-Z Machine Remote Control! The contest will run until June 28th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me any other toy vehicle made by Toy State that you’d love to bring home to your kid(s)!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Follow Toy State on Twitter
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.