Ride On Toys have been with us ever since we came up with toys for children. The first example of such a toy might have been the rocking horse. With the invention of modern forms of transport like cars, it was not long before ride on toy cars started popping up as a popular toy for kids. Kids love to act like adults and they mimic the actions and behavior of adults as a way to mature and grow up.
So it's not surprising that young children would like to pretend to drive when they see Dad driving to work every day or watch Mom driving to the shops from the comfort of their baby seat on the back seat of the car. What's more Mom and Dad find it quite cute to see their little guy or gal tootling around in a miniature Ferrari, Volkswagen or some other replica of a famous car brand.
Ride on cars have come on a long way since the early pedal variety of the toy. Pedal cars were just as the name suggests. The kid would sit in the car (which was invariably a single seat). They would have a steering wheel to control the car and pedals would drive it forward. Their leg power would be used to turn the pedals.
Since kids are usually full of energy, this need to pedal was never a problem. In fact, kids like to use their legs and develop the muscles. It was great fun and kids would race each other or crash into each other or whatever they could think up. It was all great fun and the ride on toy cars were quite simple machines.
Today's ride on toy cars are very different now. They are either electrically or battery powered, meaning that the driving power is supplied by the electrical motor. They can get some decent speeds out of some of these motors and given that there is an electrical system in the car, it starts to have more car like features that a pedal car could not generally have.
The new electric models have forward and reverse gears. They have working head lights and rear parking lights. Some even have working windscreen wipers. You might even find radios and mp3 players on the dashboards of these little model cars.
The battery or electric motor can last for a day of play and then has to be plugged into a wall socket to recharge. The next day, it ready to go again.
Many of these electric ride on toy cars are modeled on famous sports cars like Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes. There are also other popular brands like Hummers, Ford Mustangs, VW Beetles and many more. I think this replica idea of the toy car is more for the parents. They can get a laugh and enjoy watching their children drive around in a Ferrari or a Hummer. They can take pictures or video and play it back and have a good laugh.