Gifts for Car Loving Toddlers

What to get for the kid that has everything? That's the question I keep getting lately. Ez and Declan are the only grandchildren in our family, so to say that they get a little spoiled is a huge understatement. 

Ez's favorite thing in the world is cars. The Pixar movie, watching actual cars drive by, hot wheels, construction vehicles, planes, trains, motorcycles...you get the point. But he's got about a hundred hot wheels and every single Cars character that has been made into a toy, including characters that are on screen for a total of .35 seconds. I'm looking at you Mama Bernoulli. So after scouring Amazon I've put together a little list of cars-themed books and toys for the kid that already has it all. All of these are either already a huge hit in our house or on the list for Santa this year.

Let me go ahead and preface this by saying that this is not a comprehensive list of all of Ez's favorite Cars books, but these are the ones that I find most bearable to read on repeat for half an hour at time, several times a day, for weeks on end. Or until they mysteriously disappear. 

1. Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site - Construction vehicles, rhymes...what more could a toddler ask for?
2. Little Blue Truck's Christmas - Little Blue Truck can do no wrong. Plus there are car or animal sounds in each book, which instantly makes it a hit.
3. Little Blue Truck
4. Red Truck - Shorter and less popular than his Blue Truck counterpart, this book comes into rotation pretty frequently around here, especially because I happened to find a dollar bin red truck replica at Michaels. 
5. Race From A to Z - Ez and I both have this entire book memorized. And thanks to this book Ez can now recognize all his letters as well as tell you what vehicle each letter is associated with (ie - G for Gabby Garbage Truck). Remember a few months back when we drove seven hours to Disneyland? A good portion of that drive was spent reciting this book. Over and over. Sorry again, Uncle Brett. This book definitely takes home the book of the year prize as far as Ez is concerned.
6. Little Blue Truck Leads the Way 
7. Cars Look and Find - This was a cheap find at our library's annual book sale and boy was it worth the quarter we paid. It's basically a toddler level Where's Waldo, but with Cars. There's no real story involved, but Ez has learned a ton of new words like "anti-freeze" "motor oil" "transmission fluid" etc. I'm starting to think he'll grow up to be a mechanic. It's also pretty amazing that he can spot tiny details that even Joe and I didn't see until he pointed them out.
8. Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night - This was a gift from our Secret Santa book exchange and it's already in our top 12 list. 
9. Truckery Rhymes - The Trucktown books are hit or miss in my opinion, but this one got 5 stars so we added it to the list for this year. 
10. My Big Truck Book - Ez was completely absorbed by this last time we went to the book store. He's at the age where he wants to know technical names for things. Instead of getting away with calling every construction vehicle a bulldozer, he now knows that some of them are excavators or cranes. I have a feeling that means I have to up my vehicle recognition game as well, so this book may be a necessity. 
11. Yellow Copter - written by the same author as Red Truck.
12. Cars Busy Books - For about $10 you not only get a board book, but you also get a dozen mini toy cars, and some road maps to drive the cars on. Ez has loved these for awhile now, so we branched out and bought some other books in the series, but a lot of them suck. The Planes one is basically unreadable. But this Cars book is actually pretty catchy, it rhymes, and it's another one that Ez and I have memorized.

I'm sure I've left some great books off this list, so shoot me a list of your favorites. We could definitely use a little variety in our story time.

1. Construction Vehicle Set - Every kid needs a construction vehicle starter kit. Ez obviously has these in various sizes, not to mention a few tractors for good measure. 
2. Vehicle Jigsaw Puzzle - Ez just recently graduated from the peg puzzles to jigsaws, and he's obsessed. This was the first one he could complete on his own and it's still a favorite.
3. Little Blue Truck - Ez likes to have this on hand when we're reading all three of the Little Blue Truck books.
4. Magformers Car Set - I'm really excited about this gift. I hadn't even heard of Magformers until Liz posted about them, and since her son Mason and Ez have similar car-based interests I not only looked them up, but I entered her giveaway and....<drum roll>...WON! Probably the best thing I've ever won and Ez is going to love it.
5. VTech Smart Wheels RC Speedway - This was another tip from Liz and I'm kinda shocked Ez didn't have this already. Needless to say this is gonna be a pretty big Christmas with two RC cars to look forward to.
6. Construction Peg Puzzle - The puzzle that started the puzzle obsession. I think it's about time for this one to be retired while we still have all the pieces to pass on to Declan, but it was a good year long run while it lasted.
7. Sticker Activity Pad - Stickers are a big deal around here. Especially if they've got cars or airplanes on them. Bonus points that they're something Ez and I can do together while I'm simultaneously nursing Declan, so needless to say we go through them pretty fast.
8. Goodnight Construction Site Magnets - Magnets are also a big deal around here. Ez likes to put them on the fridge, then knock them all over the floor and begin the whole process over while I cook dinner or wash dishes in the evening.

Anyone else have car-loving kids? What's on their wish list this year?