Great Ways to Encourage Your Child's Love of Vehicles

(StatePoint) Do you have a vehicle-loving kid? Here are some fun toys, games and activity ideas to fuel their interest in all things cars, trucks, planes, helicopters and more!

Attend a Community Event

Check to see when your local fire department's next open house is. These community events are a great opportunity to learn about firefighting, and often there are special activities just for kids, like tours of the fire engine, equipment demonstrations, and even games and challenges that teach fire safety.

Or, turn your attention to the skies and attend an air show to view exciting aerial performances and gravity-defying stunts.

Find Great Toys

Some toy vehicles are more than meets the eye, such as those in the Switch & Go line-up from VTech, which includes the Gorilla Muscle Car, a ferocious ape that turns into a mighty muscle car with a few simple moves. Its LCD-screen eyes change from friendly to fierce when it's ready for action. In car mode, kids can check out the driver on the LCD screen and hear him talk about his speed. Also in the line-up is the Wolf Fire Chief, a powerful fire chief car with realistic five-alarm fire sound effects and cool lights. One-touch transformation turns this rescue vehicle into a strong, growling wolf, ready to spring into action.

For kids who also love dinosaurs, check out the Switch & Go Hatch & Roaaar Eggs, a line of two-in-one dinosaur vehicles. Available as a Velociraptor Racer, T-Rex Racer, Triceratops Race Car and Pterodactyl Chopper, kids can create an entire dinosaur-turned-vehicle world by opening the eggs and finding all the pieces needed to rev up imaginative play.

Visit a Transportation Museum

A trip to a transportation museum is a chance to see cool cars, helicopters, airplanes, trucks and trains from different time periods. Some institutions even let you board the vehicles for a closer look around. Learn about the science and engineering behind their development, along with the history of how they changed the world.

Play Car Games

On a road trip? Beat boredom on highways and byways by assigning each kid a different color. Have them keep a tally of all the vehicles they see in that color. For slightly older kids, ask them to keep track of the different states they see represented on license plates or even the car models.

From playtime to community events, there are many ways to support your child's love of vrooming, zooming vehicles.