Best Christmas for Digger Man?

November 29, 2012 10:24 PM

what is the sturdiest toy excavator for my hard working 2 year old?

My son spends most of his time playing with trucks, if we are out in the world he is asking to see any trucks we can wandering the street of Los Angele's.

He plays hard and spend copious amounts of time moving earth and rock piles to various places around or backyard.

We would like to get him the best, sturdiest, most functional excavator we can for Christmas?

He loves the Bruder trucks and owns a backhoe and a cement mixer from that manufacturer. But the truth is they really cannot handle hard, all day, rough and tumble digging. Too many parts.

Our boy is a stickler for details so we are hoping to find what ever is the best made, yet still anatomically correct, backhoe or excavator for our little digger man.

Thanks for your help!

posted by silsurf to shopping (5 answers total)

It's not a direct answer to your question, but your son is the right age and would love this: Constructive Eating.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:15 AM on November 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Continuing the derail; there's a matching blue plate with dividers and ramps.
posted by Rat Spatula at 7:10 AM on November 30, 2012

When my brother was little (as recently as the early 90s!) he had a set of Tonka trucks. There was a backhoe/excavator, a dump truck, and a crane. They were solid, they were metal, and they were indestructible. In fact, I think I may have suffered permanent brain damage from when the little bro whalloped me in the back of the head with the crane bucket when I was five. Anyway, they got used hard, and they're still all in one piece and look great.

It looks like Tonka is still making metal play trucks, but they look different (and a bit chinchier) today than what they were back then. I would have to actually hold them in person to be able to tell you for sure (ours were HEAVY). Looks like they have them at ToysRus, though, so it wouldn't be too hard to find out.

As long as they're still solid, I'd vote for Tonka.
posted by phunniemee at 8:09 AM on November 30, 2012

Tonka is THE toy of choice in this space.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:37 AM on November 30, 2012

I will third Tonka trucks generally - those things were indestructible, but after reading those Amazon reviews it's apparent that the modern versions are not the same Tonka trucks of yore. It sounds like the modern ones have some plastic parts, and I would probably stay away from buying one sight-unseen. If you're near a large enough city, a local/vintage/specialty toy store might be able to tell you more, or at least give you a hands-on idea of what you're buying.
posted by antonymous at 12:34 PM on November 30, 2012