Wooden Car Loader

Lift and Load Lots of Vehicles

• What: Melissa & Doug Wooden Car Loader
• When: 18 months to 5 years
• Why: Durable, cars can be used separately
• Where: Amazon

My son loves his Melissa and Doug wooden vehicles so much I decided to expand our set, and invested in the Car Loader for the holidays. It comes with a red tractor type truck in the front with an arm attached to it, a flatbed, and four cars to load and unload.

Our other sets have held up so well to tons of use, and this one also comes from super sturdy wooden material. My son loves the magnetic attachment for the vehicles. The arm swings easily in most directions, while holding its position. It can lift to load and unload any of the four cars, which come in red, blue, yellow, and white with a contrasting colored stripe and the numbers from one to four on the sides.

It gets less action than our other sets, though. He doesn’t play with the cars independently, like I thought he might. But the cars also don’t fit any of our other toys, like wooden train tracks or other vehicles sets, so I suspect that has something to do with the limited play. On the other hand, he plays with all the pieces from his other set with and without their flatbed and other vehicles. I think neither of us love this set as much as others from the same brand.  

A word of warning to the wise: If you’ve invested in Melissa and Doug’s construction vehicles or airplane set, this car loader won’t connect with those pieces. For whatever reason, the connection between the front and flatbed parts come at different heights, and don’t play nicely together.