10 of the best toy garages
Toy garages are the perfect gift for toddlers and preschoolers: just add a car and watch those imaginations rev up
Wooden and traditional or plastic and modern, toy garages give little hands plenty to press, twist, park and vroom – and spark little brains into creating all sorts of imaginary stories and games.
Toy garages come in a range of prices and sizes and vary from the simple and minimal to proper little light-up, noise-making numbers – and the best ones have a real 'wow' factor that'll keep its play value for many months to come.
We've zoomed down ramps, ridden up lifts, parked up at petrol stations and even scaled a helipad or two to find the toy garages that really stand out from the crowd, whatever their price point...
Here's our pick of the best toy garages for toddlers and preschoolers:
1. Big City Garage, £69
Age: 3+
What it is: It's a 2-storey garage (54cm x 78cm x 44cm) with car wash, helipad, ramps to zoom down, a wind up lift and sounds. Requires 2 x AA batteries (not included).
Why we love it: It's really robust and sturdy, with ramps wide enough for bigger-size cars. It also has good detailing – we particularly like the little petrol pumps and the helicopter noises the helipad makes.
Available at: Early Learning Centre
2. Race N Play Parking Garage, £50
Age: 3+
What it is: Made of chalk-friendly rubber wood, this 51 cm x 43 cm x 17 cm garage comes complete with a helipad, 2 parking levels and 2 cars.
Why we love it: This is a sturdy, well-made and good-looking wooden garage that's pretty easy to assemble. And we really love that you can draw on it with chalk.
Available at: Kidly and Bobby Rabbit
3. Chad Valley Deluxe 5 Level Garage & Cars Set, £50
Age: 3+
What it is: A tall (70cm) 5-level garage playset with working lift, barriers and ramp, plus petrol pumps, car wash, helipad, parking bays and 10 die-cast cars. The track pieces on the ground level are compatible with other Chad Valley track sets.
Why we love it: It's very impressive, with its 5 storeys and little road at the bottom. It does take a little while to build, though (including attaching quite a lot of fiddly stickers). Nice and sturdy and, with the cars included, not bad value for money at all.
Available at: Argos
4. Hot Wheels Ultimate Connectable Play Set, £99.99
Age: 3+
What it is: A 76cm x 61 cm 4-level metal garage featuring a petrol station, a helipad, 2 lifts, car workshop and, er, a chomping shark. It has space for 36 cars and comes with 5 cars and a helicopter. Requires 3 x C batteries (not included).
Why we love it: This is really big garage, with lights and sounds and ramps on each side so you can race 2 cars down against each other. The shark feature seems a bit random but big got a thumbs-up from our testers, and we like the (loud) 'fixing' noises you hear when you take a car in for a service and put it in the mechanic's pit.
Available from: Amazon
5. Brio World Parking Garage, £54.99
Age: 3+
What it is: A 37cm x 27cm 3-tier wooden garage with a lift, numbered parking spaces and a bright-red plastic ramp. Comes with 2 cars, 1 trailer, and 2 train-track ramps.
Why we love it: It's sturdy, well-designed, compact and easy to put together, as you'd expect from the Brio brand. And it connects with pieces from any Brio train set, if you fancy of bit of full-on, multi-transport play. A good buy for a younger child (a 2 year-old would enjoy this, with adult supervision).
Available at: John Lewis
6. Theo Klein Bosch Car Service Station, £48.85
Age: 3+
What it is: A 41cm x 31cm service station, featuring a lifting platform and a car wash with moving brushes. Comes with a car (with 4 spare wheels) and a screwdriver for changing the wheels – and for dismantling/reassembling the whole service station.
Why we love it: It's not really a garage but we had to include this because our testers had great fun lifting the car up on the platform for 'servicing' and then changing the wheels with the little screwdriver. And we reckon older ones would love the challenge of taking the entire service station to bits – even if you'd probably end up being the one to put it back together.
Available at: Amazon
7. Molto 4 Storey Parking Garage, £29.99
Age: 3+
What it is: A 4-storey 55cm-high garage with parking spaces on the top 3 floors. Includes car lift, car wash, inspection ramp, petrol pumps, 2 cards and a circuit of track.
Why we love it: This is a nice sturdy garage for the price and it’s easy to assemble – as long as you put the stickers on first and make sure you keep pushing the bits of road track together until you hear a click, though, or you’ll think they don’t connect properly. We like the windup and down lift.
Available at: Smyths Toys
8. KidKraft Mega Ramp Wooden Racing Track Set, £77.50
Age: 3+
What it is: A 62cm x 37cm x 56cm wooden garage that has a giant launch ramp, a car wash with rolling brushes, a petrol station and a 3-level spiral ramp. Comes with 5 vehicles, a helicopter and helipad. Requires 3 x LR44 batteries (not included).
Why we love it: This garage takes a fair bit of assembling before your child can play with it - you'll want to give it a couple of hour – but we reckon it's worth it. It's super sturdy (if it's built right) and that giant launch ramp is fantastic – sending cars flying up into the air. We also really like the (working) traffic lights that can count down the start of your car races.
Available from: Amazon
9. Melissa & Doug Stack & Count Wooden Parking, £14.99
Age: 3+
What it is: A 30cm-tall garage-themed stacker toy, featuring a sliding counter. Comes with 10 differently coloured cars.
Why we love it: It's bright and colourful and beautifully made. It's not exactly a garage as such but it's a lovely car toy for toddlers and preschoolers who are learning to count and name colours. Fun and educational.
Available at: Amazon
10. Le Toy Van Dino's Garage, £69.95
Age: 3+
What it is: A brightly coloured 30cm x 38cm x 50cm 3-story wooden garage that features spiral ramps, a petrol pump, a car, and a working lift. Comes with stickers (in English, French and German) and a red wooden car.
Why we love it: It's beautifully designed, very well made and super robust. We like the little numbered parking spaces on each storey and the generously sized lift. We wish it came with a helicopter for the helipad, though.
Available at: Le Toy Van, Mulberry Bush and Wooden Toy Shack
About the author
Helen is Deputy Editor of MadeForMums, the author of Parenting for Dummies (Wiley, £17.99) and the Head Tester for our MadeForMums Toy Awards. She has written about parenting for Mumsnet, Pregnancy & Birth, Prima Baby, Boots Parenting Club and She Magazine and she's also been Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby. She has 3 boys and a heavy-duty washing machine.
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Authors
Helen is author of the classic advice book Parenting for Dummies and a mum of 3. Before joining MadeForMums, she was Head of Community at Mumsnet and also the Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby.
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