Over my years of teaching science classes to elementary school kids and STEM preschool, we’ve designed lots of different cars that children can make as fun toys or for school projects or science fairs.

Cardboard Box Car

Make a car from a cardboard box or carton that is big enough for your child to sit in. Great for pretend play or for a simple homemade Halloween costume.

Motorized Car

Build this motorized toy car using a paper template, store-bought wheel and axles, a motor and a fan.

Rubber Band Car

You can also “motorize” with a rubber band. In 2021, I created a car that used a folded cardstock template for the body (though you could also just fold cardboard), wooden dowels and wood wheels. It will travel a short distance – or add CD wheels and it will travel much further! Tutorial here.

Retractable Badge Car

My 2016 design (find the tutorial here) used a corrugated plastic (or cardboard) body, wood dowels for axles, and a retractable badge to “motorize” it. With wood wheels or CDs. It’s a fun project, but TONS of prep time!

Clothespin Racer

Find instructions for this clothespin racecar. Zero prep time. But somehow taking apart a toy car and then strapping the parts onto a clothespin to make a new car wasn’t that exciting to me. (Though the kids loved it.)

Rubber Band Plastic Racecar

Teacher Geek has a rubber band racer kit. The kits were a little pricey, so I worked out what the cost would be if I bought the supplies in bulk from them. When I priced it out in 2019, it was about $3.40 per car, so likely more than that, but likely less than their kit costs. These cars have minimal prep time and a nice result.

Lakeshore Kits

Lakeshore has kits for a balloon powered car that look interesting, but I don’t know anything beyond what’s described in their listing.

Design Process

If you’re the kind of geek who really likes to hear about design processes, back in 2016, I wrote this post where I examined all the different challenges that go into creating an effective design for a toy car that kids can build.