Since Goonie was about six months old, he’s loved cars. I’m not talking about just liking cars, but LOVES cars and everything about them. How they look, how they work and every type of model of car there is out there. His car collection is huge, and he has one at home and at his grandparent’s house. And now, since he’s starting to read his favorite type of car is Hot Wheels – he can read the name and will quickly know if his car is not a Hot Wheels model or not.
This year there is a new toy that is right up his alley – The Hot Wheels Car Maker by Mattel, and Kmart sent me one to try out. The Hot Wheels Car Maker is on their Fab 15 Toy list, and it has got to be one of the coolest and hottest toys of the season. I can guarantee that it will be on the list for car lovers, of any age!
The Hot Wheels Car Maker says that it is for children ages 8 and up. This is mostly because this is a toy that you plug into the wall in order to use it. But there were no tiny parts that could be swallowed, sharp items that a kid could hurt themselves on. And lastly, the Car Maker heats up wax to make cars, but everything is internal, and so well done that you can’t even feel the heat through the sides at all. I have no problem letting Goonie play with this with our supervision. The only thing that I think the age would help with for the Hot Wheels Car Maker is a bit more patience – making cars can take some time!
Your Hot Wheels Car Maker will come with everything you need to get started making cars. But you will need to get refills for the molds, because your little car lover will be making so many they will be out quickly. When you first open your Hot Wheels Car Maker it has three car chassis, two body molds, ten wax cylinders in different colors, stickers to decorate your new car, and a plastic multi-tool that will help you get your cars out of the molds when they’re done.
The instructions to get started are easy – plug in your Hot Wheels Car Maker, put the mold in the base, put the wax through the top and push the button to get started. It does take several minutes a car, this is where the patience comes in. Then you have to wait for the car to cool down before you can remove it from the machine.
Now, as an adult making a car with the Hot Wheels Car Maker I did find it a bit repetitive when it repeated the same statement over and over prompting me to put the mold into the machine. But once it’s going the Hot Wheels Car Maker lights up, has grinding sounds of cars being tooled and made. It sounded like a car shop had moved into our kitchen! I even heard my boyfriend from the living room say “Wow Goonie is going to love that!”
Once your car is done with it’s “cooling” cycle you can remove the mold from the machine. Just unsnap the sides and use your multi-tool to open it. Your car is cooled but still a tad warm to the touch, so you can easily remove the extra wax from the mold. The hardest part of removing your car (I thought at least) was getting it out the last bit and completely removing it from the mold. I might have been a little cautious but I was afraid the car would break – it is wax after all. But it didn’t break, since it is still a warm it easily came out and did not break from being too set so far.
The next step – choose my chassis and put stickers on to decorate it! I can see this is going to start a car production line in our house that would make Henry Ford happy! I’m amazed at how nice the cars came out and how easy it was to make them. And the best part – they’re all Hot Wheels!
You can find the Hot Wheels Car Maker at Kmart this holiday season. Don’t forget to check out all of Kmart’s Fab 15 Toys on their website – there is a toy for every kid on that list!
Still looking for the perfect gift? Check out Kmart’s Toy Catalog, full of deals and great gift ideas.
This year Kmart has paired up with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, you can even donate some of the Fab 15 toys to children in need! What a great way to give back.
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