Need advice on toddler walker/ride-on

[mspacman]

My daughter just turned one and is just starting to walk. I'd like to buy her one of those ride-on cars with a rear bar for her to push it around. Choices include Little Tykes, Fisher Price (the one with a funny face on the front) and Playskool. The Little Tykes is cheapest at around $15, but the FP and Playskool models have bars that fold down. What do you all recommend for safety, comfort, durability, length of usefulness and all that good stuff? Thanks a lot!

[trumansmom]

We have the Little Tykes one and Truman loves it! He got it at around 9 months when he was just starting to walk, and loved it right away. He still plays with it every day, so we've been really pleased. We had one of the Playskool push things as well. He liked it alot, but one day I noticed that one of the support bars had broken. Nobody (i.e. my husband!) 'fessed up to breaking it, but it had to be thrown away. I thought about replacing it, but didn't want to have to deal with it again. The sharp plastic was pretty scary. I was glad that I noticed the damage before Truman started playing with it.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Little Tykes car.

Jeanne

[LisaS]

We have a Chicco ride on/walker that looks like a train. My parents bought it for my dd (10 months) for hanukkah and so far, she loves it. She's not walking yet, but pushes it while crawling, or stands and holds on. The best thing about it is the seat lifts up to reveal a hidden compartment and that is her favorite thing, putting in and taking out toys from it. There are also 2 levers on either side of the car that make noise when moved back and forth and the steering wheel has a horn that pushes and makes beads go around and around which she loves. Overall, it is a great toy and we are very happy with it (at least we have been for the past 2 weeks). In general I find Chicco toys to be very well made. A few friends in DDs playgroup have the FP one and the best thing abt it is the hoop for the balls...that seems to be more popular with the babies than the push along/ride on feature.

[KJB1126]

My DD has the Fisher Price ride on (it has the funny face with a basketball like thingy in the front) and she absolutely loves it! I ended up buying one for my niece (who is 10 months) for Christmas. What I like about this ride on is:

1. It's sturdy. The rear part is shaped into a "V" and your daughter will walk on the inside of the "V" a wider base like this provides more stability, so the ride on won't flip over when your daughter pulls up to walk.

2. The "V" section closes to make a seat so this toy can be used later on.

3. The ride on makes sound when it moves, rewarding your daughter (sound can be turned off). My daughter likes to push the nose on the face to play the music.

I bought the ride on for $24.99 on sale at Target. I think it's worth the money because DD will be using it for a long time!

HTH,

Kelly
Mommy to Kaitlyn 11/21/01