DIY Toy Car Racing Tracks: Activities for two year old toddlers

My son is a BIG fan of cars. It may be an inherent gender inclination in play or whatever but it was very obvious from the first time he owned a toy car.  He has a huge collection of many kinds of cars trucks trains buses planes and helicopters. But lately all he did with them was collecting them all in the bath tub during his bath (It was a good way to lure him into taking a bath though!)

The idea of making a race track came from watching a Tutitu video on YouTube. It is a children's series of a flying car named Tutitu making all kinds of things from playgrounds to birthday cakes to a multi-level racing tracks.

The first one I made was a simple slide by gluing a few long cardboard sheets together that were cut out from milk cartons/ toy boxes. They then need to be aligned on different levels. All sizes of cars speed downhill on the slide and this keeps him busy (and off my back!) for long hours!

 

The second was a multi=level racing track for the small hot wheel cars. It may look very simple to make as all you gotta to is stick cardboard lengths to each other but it takes a whole lotta precision to get it just right. The angles need to be accurate so the cars fall from one level to the next and not fly off AND the distance between two levels need to be enough for the car to land properly and roll down again and not just abruptly stop. 

Another caveat is that although making from cardboard is okay, it is difficult to keep the slides straight. Because you may stick it to one side of the stand correctly but may miss the accuracy when you're sticking it to the other side!

  

 

Probably a better idea to make it from wood! But I don't see myself with a saw and hammer so this is all I got. I have seen some really cool Hot Wheels' Team Xtreme ones, with 360 degree loops, double loops and crash zones. But he's just two y.o. So this will do for now and we can probably dwell on the real thing a little later.

Anyways, he DOES have a lotta fun with both these tracks so it's worth it after all.

1 Cut 4 lengths of 2'X5" for the stands.

2 Cut 5 lengths of 2'X7" for the slides. Then fold up 1" on each side, so the slide is effectively 5" wide

3 I first made a mock set up by attaching all 5 slides to the stands with binder clips to get see whether cars did roll all the way down. The slides were at 15 degrees angle to the stand (except the bottom most one which is flat against the floor)

4 Then putting one side of stand on the floor I used feviquick to stick one side of the slide to it.

5 Then putting it upright, I stuck the other side, this is a really tricky part, cuz if the precision is not absolutely accurate, the slides not absolutely straight, the cars won't roll all the way down. It's best if you take someone's help to get it right!

6 I left binder clips on and left the glue to dry overnight.

7 Painted it in the morning. Don't add water to paint as it will soften the cardboard!

For more Ramps & Tunnels for Toys Cars, Click Here !

Until later! Stay in touch!

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