Saartje
04-16-2006, 11:14 AM
Ish adores a large metal dump truck that my parents have at their house for him to play with. So when I saw that the toys on pre-Easter sale at my grocery store last night included a plastic version of the same dump truck, I decided to get it for him.
Well, I was right, he loves it. Unfortunately, some of the reasons I normally opt for non-plastic toys where that's an option still apply. The biggest problem is that it's much lighter-weight than he expects it to be; the metal one my parents have is hefty enough that he can very carefully climb on it and sit on the cab with his feet in the dump bucket. This one is so light that it wants to tip over, no matter how careful he is; and the dump bucket not only turns far more easily on this one than it does on the metal one, but there is no point at which it stops turning, so it will turn all the way around and flip the truck over (so that the bucket is right side up and the truck upside down underneath it).
Can anyone think of creative ways I could possibly weight the bottom of this truck, and rig a stop to the dump bucket (so it only turns far enough to dump, not all the way around)?
A quick cute-kid note: the dump truck is bright yellow, so Ish has just dug out his two Matchbox cars that are also yellow, and is playing with all three on the couch. It looks like a mama duck with ducklings, except they're trucks. :)
Well, I was right, he loves it. Unfortunately, some of the reasons I normally opt for non-plastic toys where that's an option still apply. The biggest problem is that it's much lighter-weight than he expects it to be; the metal one my parents have is hefty enough that he can very carefully climb on it and sit on the cab with his feet in the dump bucket. This one is so light that it wants to tip over, no matter how careful he is; and the dump bucket not only turns far more easily on this one than it does on the metal one, but there is no point at which it stops turning, so it will turn all the way around and flip the truck over (so that the bucket is right side up and the truck upside down underneath it).
Can anyone think of creative ways I could possibly weight the bottom of this truck, and rig a stop to the dump bucket (so it only turns far enough to dump, not all the way around)?
A quick cute-kid note: the dump truck is bright yellow, so Ish has just dug out his two Matchbox cars that are also yellow, and is playing with all three on the couch. It looks like a mama duck with ducklings, except they're trucks. :)