Why would you give a kid a remote control car?
It is rare for a child not to have fun if they are given a remote control car and for most kids the joy and excitement is boundless. They make fantastic gifts as they will entertain the children for hours and you can get a good electric remote control car for well under $100. If you need a remote control car for a five year old or even younger then choose one of the simpler to control, cheaper cars so that your child doesn’t get frustrated. If you need a remote control car for a 10 year old the range is wider and the options greater in terms of speed, power and user functions.
What Great Reasons Are There For Getting a Child a RC Car?
It Gets Your Child Outside.
Fed up with kids inside on Playstations, phones and ipads? Can’t get them outside without massive arguments and huge bribes? Well once they get their hands on a RC car, and maybe one of the best remote control cars for kids that we review on this site, your worries are over. They will never have so much fun in their lives. Remote control cars can race around the streets, on tarmac playgrounds, or if you get them an off road remote control car or even a monster truck they can be used in parks, beaches and the back yard. They are the best fun and if a sibling or friend also has one then the play is endless with races and competitions. Suddenly you can’t get your child in for dinner because they want to stay outside. Way healthier than trying to pry them out of their rooms like an oyster out of a shell.
A Remote Control Car Encourages Creativity and Imagination.
Some of the RC cars come as kits. A child then has the opportunity to learn about engineering, manufacturing and logical thinking and if they have a car which can be painted, their artistic and imaginative skills can come into play too. They child can make the RC car their own with special creative designs. There is something satisfying for a child about putting pieces together and then seeing them work, the suspension, the wheels. Kids love that. It makes them feel good about themselves. And if a parent is on hand, it becomes a collaborative event and quality time is spent between the parent and child. As long as the parent doesn’t take over and build the car themselves!
In addition to that it helps with family bonding as everyone gets involved. That is certainly what happened in my family. First my son had a RC car and then my daughter, and soon we were all outside racing them and sharing a really great time. The odd crash didn’t do any harm and generally provoked laughter and concern in equal measure!
A Remote Control Car Helps Spatial Awareness And Coordination.
For some people eye-hand coordination is very difficult. A kid or and adult might find it hard to throw or catch a ball, or have trouble with fine motor skills like writing. Learning how to drive a remote control car is also difficult but because its so much fun children don’t realise that they are learning great skills as they play. With a remote control car for a five year old even, a child must learn how to relate where the RC car is with what their hands are doing. They need to develop the skills to move the controls with their left and hand at the same time, and relate those actions to the movement of a RC car in the distance which may be facing towards them, away from the or to the side. This results in a massive improvement in their cognitive function and eye-hand coordination.
With that car racing around them either in the distance or coming towards them, always on the move, the child needs to develop spatial awareness, that is, figure out the position of the car in relationship to its surroundings such as walls or creeks an make sure it doesn’t end up in contact with them.
What else does a RC car teach a child?
If your child wants to be able to use their RC car then they have to start learning about responsibility. These cars need looking after and that includes not trashing them or driving them into walls, but also keeping them clean and repairing damage as best they can. Cars need to be maintained and the battery regularly charged, and then when they are finished with, they need to be stored safely. All these aspects of a remote control car give the parent the opportunity to provide a learning experience for their child in a fun way. And the benefits of these experiences will spill over into the rest of their lives.
Five Things to Consider When Buying a RC Car;
Cost;
Remote control cars range from $10 through to $500 or more, and with that difference in price you get massively different features. These will range from speed and power of your RC car, technical skills of the user driver competency. If you are looking for a remote control car for a five year old you will be looking at the cheaper end of the market with the simpler skill set requirements, but if you are looking for the best remote control for a ten year old then you will be expecting to pay more. For basic and great fun cars at this price range you can expect to pay $50-$100, or if you have competent kids or more money, you can get a fabulous car for between $100 and $200.
Childs Age;
If you are looking for a remote control car for a 5 year old you might be looking for the little extras which fascinate the age group so much, like lights they can turn on and off and siren sounds or engine sounds. The controls for this age group need to be pretty simple too because it can be difficult to figure out how to make a car work for a small child. If you are looking to buy a remote control car for a ten year old or older, you might be looking at the possibilities of them customising the RC car. You will also can allow for more sophisticated controls and a greater technical awareness, which would lead to a faster more interesting car for that age group.
Exactly What Style of RC Car Do You Want?
This will be partly determined by the age of the child you are buying for. There are the simple cheap RC cars which are good for indoors or around the house if you have a five year old, but for older children you can get road cars, off-road cross country cars, monster trucks, and for stepping up and getting really interesting, and fast, nitro-powered cars. Where will the remote control car be used, is it for the streets outside the house or down the local park where the workmen have been digging up the ground for a month. That could be great fun to drive your car on. Decide where its going to be used and put that information in the pot.
How long does the battery last?
This is a very important consideration and you should choose a RC car which comes with a good long battery life because no kid wants to be running out of power after ten or fifteen minutes of play. And if they do run out they won’t want a long recharge time either, so a combination of reasonably long lasting and easy charging is a majorly important consideration when buying a RC car for a kid. You can of course buy additional batteries for your RC car so that when they run out you simply change them over and charge the flat ones while you are off and racing again. Good plan.
The Controls.
You can get RC cars with different types of controllers. One is called a stick control and is the easiest to use but it can cause pain in the hands when overused. The question then is how often and how long will the kid be playing with the car for? More difficult to use but better on your hand is the pistol grip control. You need pretty good coordination to make this one work and you often have several things to do with your fingers. If you can go and try one out somewhere before you buy a car it might give you an idea what is best.
Conclusion;
There are lots of things to consider when looking at buying a RC car. As well as the above you need to think a bit about durability, ease of getting spare parts, like tyres and batteries, whether the maker is well know and what other reviews say about the product. At the end of the day the more information you have the better chance you will have of buying the right car for your child. To have a look at the top five remote control cars for five year olds, look here.
- Lightning Fast Cartoon R/C Truck for Children
- 2 Channel: forward, reverse left
- Honking Sounds, Music and Flashing Headlights
- Removable race Car Driver Action Figure
- Ages 18 months and Up.
Theefun RC Car 33+ mph High Speed Remote Control Car 1: 12 Electric Vehicle Off Road Monster Truck with Rechargeable Battery for Adults and Kids
Impressive driving performance.
33+ mph speed and extreme climbing ability enabled by the powerful brushed motor. 2WD independent suspension system for the stability in off-road running
Extended battery life /up to 30 minutes.
Driving offered by the 9.6V 800mAh rechargeable battery pack means you’ll always have fuel for the journey ahead, which provides longer entertainment performance. Note: Please charge before use.
Long distance remote control, 4GHz radio system excels in anti-interference and ensures 100M long control distance, This RC car will bring you a special driving experience.
Anti-slip rubber tire and suspension shock absorber, anti-slip wear-resistant rubber tire generates considerable grip on the ground; Each wheel was supported with SHOCKPROOF and stable spring, which creates impressive damping effect and a more steady drive
Impact-resistant PVC body shell serves as a good protection The components inside well
Our review; Very responsive and quick rc car. Well built. We recommend this product and brand going forward. Wonderful gift for any rc enthusiast.
This is close to a “hobby grade” RC truck. It is very fast and has good suspension, with proportional steering, and throttle. It has two lithium-ion batteries that stay cool while being charged.
We give it a rating of 3.8 out of 5