Mummy Must Have Review | Lucas Loves Cars + giveaway

There's a common misconception in society that toy cars are only for boys. Gender stereotyping and all that seems to be rife when it comes to kids toys. Well I hate to burst the bubble, but... kids don't like certain toys just because they're pink or blue, or meant to be for girls or boys. Kids like toys because they like them, go figure. 

I loved toy cars when I was younger. In fact I remember spending hours building cities with ramps and roads for matchbox cars with my brother {in my grandma's walk in wardrobe of all places}. So its no surprise to me that my daughter also loves cars. In fact she prefers to play with cars over a lot of her other toys.

Her love of male stereotyped vehicles isn't just limited to cars either, she also loves trucks, trains and planes. She has a toy train {which likes to make noise in the middle of the night just to scare me}, a few little planes and we recently added a truck to our menagerie of toy vehicles. This one comes complete with wild animals so the term menagerie is quite fitting.

Her toy truck isn't just a truck though, its a jungle safari shape sorter. I'd go as far as saying its probably the coolest shape sorter I've ever seen. I love the fact that its wooden and will last a lot longer than her plastic toys. And the fact that its unisex and not blue or pink is also a big plus {although I doubt she could care less about the colour}. Seriously is it not the coolest shape sorter ever?

The safari truck comes with seven wooden animals including a giraffe, zebra, crocodile, hippopotamus, lion, elephant and rhino. Of course when there's wild animals involved its always a good idea to have a ranger around to keep them under control, luckily the set comes complete with two rangers. The back of the truck is also a gate to make sure the animals don't escape when they're not supposed to. 

Each piece has its own special place in the truck and can also stand on its own to be used for pretend play as well. She often uses the animals in conjunction with her farm house - feeding them yummy carrots and letting them mingle with the farm animals. The rangers also like to go for long walks around the lounge room and occasionally magically make their way upstairs to her bedroom. Surprisingly enough, despite the farm animals and wild animals frolicking together without the supervision of the rangers there haven't been any accidents, yet. They all seem to play together nicely {so far}.

As far as using it as a shape sorter is concerned, she usually cheats takes the easy option and just puts all the animals through the biggest hole to get them in the truck. I'm not sure if she's being lazy or smart. The more she plays with it though the better she's getting at matching the animals to their holes {or at least trying to}. Given its recommended for 2+ and she's not yet 2 I'd say she's doing ok and I'm sure she'll have it down pat in no time.

The jungle safari truck is made by popular toy manufacturers Melissa & Doug and we got it from Lucas Loves Cars. Lucas Loves Cars in an online business run by a Melbourne work at home mum. It was born from her son's love of cars and her frustration of not being able to find specific car related merchandise. Lucas Loves Cars sell anything car related for kids and I mean pretty much everything - toys, puzzles, clothes, dinnerware, games, books, night lights, wall decals and even light switch covers {see pretty much anything you can think of}. They're also not solely limited to cars, they also love planes, trains, trucks and tractors. If it has wheels then they've got it. While they do stock pretty much everything any little boy would want, there's nothing stopping a little girl from loving their products too. If you have a budding car enthusiast {girl or boy} at your place then you'll want to check out the giveaway below. You can connect with Lucas Loves Cars on Facebook and Instagram.

LUCAS LOVES CARS GIVEAWAY

The team at Lucas Loves Cars have generously provided an Automoblox mini S9 Heather Blue Sedan for one lucky Finding Myself Young reader. To enter simply follow the prompts in the rafflecopter widget below and leave a comment letting me know which is your favourite product sold by Lucas Loves Cars and why?

Good luck!

Toni x

WINNER - SARAH NORMAN

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions
Competition commences 12:00am July 14th 2015 and ends 12:00am July 28th 2015. Entry is open to Australian residents only, excluding ACT. One reader will win an Automoblox mini S9 Heather Blue Sedan from Lucas Loves Cars. Prize is not transferable. Prize will be delivered by Lucas Loves Cars, Finding Myself Young takes no responsibility for prize delivery. This competition is a game of skill and will be judged as such. All mandatory entry steps must be completed to constitute a valid entry. Incomplete entries will be deemed invalid and excluded from judging. Winner will have 72hrs to respond or prize will be redrawn. This competition is in no way endorsed, promoted or administered by Facebook.

Disclaimer - I was sent the jungle safari shape sorter for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own based on using the truck {well bub using it}, as per my disclosure policy. I did not receive payment for this post. 

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