Introducing the Step2 Hot Wheels Toddler-to-Twin Race Car Bed

Before Zellene (our 3rd) was born, we moved Jacob into Maggie’s bedroom. With limited space in a 3-bedroom house, it seemed like the best solution at the time. We got bunk beds for the kids and they have genuinely loved sharing a room.

Sure, they fight like any brother and sister, but they are also best friends. Now that Maggie is 5, Jacob is 3, and Zellene is 1 (and sleeping through the night), we felt it was time to give Jacob his own room back and let the girls room together.

I knew this was not going to be easy on Jacob. He looks up to his big sister so much and likes her company. Moving him back to his old room was going to have to be full of excitement for him and the brand new Step2 Hot Wheels Toddler-to-Twin Race Car Bed presented the perfect solution!

Last week while all of the kids were at their grandparents’ for the day (shout-out to wonderful grandparents who give mom and dad a day off!) we got to work transforming the nursery into a big boy room.  

From start to finish, assembling the new Hot Wheels bed took us less than an hour. We were both eager to see Jacob’s reaction to his new room when he got home. But – before I get to the big reveal, let me tell you a little bit about this bed.

The Step2 Hot Wheels Toddler-to-Twin Race Car Bed is designed to accommodate a toddler (crib) mattress and also a twin mattress. It features 2 tap-on headlights (powered by 2 AAA batteries in each headlight) that automatically turn off after a few minutes (thank you Step2!).

It has molded-in race tracks along both sides of the bed, enabling your child to “race” his/her cars down the tracks. You can attach Hot Wheels tracks at the front of the bed for a longer race. The air intakes on the sides of the bed double as storage for your little one (books, a cup, more cars, etc.) plus storage for Hot Wheels cars is available on the spoiler.

The bed is recommended for ages 2 and up and is available in blue or red (seen below).

Well, the kids arrived home and Jake ran to his room to check out his new bed (we had already told him he was going to get one). His face lit up when he saw it! Not only was Jacob extremely excited about his new bed, his sisters were pretty excited as well. We showed him how the track, storage, and headlights worked and his excitement grew. He thanked us over and over again for his new bed and then he and his sisters played on it until we had to make them stop for dinner.

When bedtime arrived, Jacob was so excited to sleep in his new bed. He’s been sleeping in there for over a week now with great success. The excitement of his cool new Hot Wheels bed certainly softened the blow of moving to a room all by himself. He still enjoys racing his cars along the track and turns his headlights on each night before falling asleep as his built-in nightlights.

When used as a toddler bed, you also have an additional racetrack on the bed that children can drive their cars on. I don’t think Jacob could possibly love his bed any more! If you look closely in the photo below, you can see one of Jake’s Hot Wheels racing down the track.

Normally I’m hard pressed to find a thing to complain about when it comes to Step2 products, but I want to mention one feature of this bed that my husband and I were scratching our heads over. When you use this bed with the toddler/crib mattress, rather than the mattress fitting flush against the plastic wall that holds it or sitting down inside that wall, a portion of the mattress sits above the wall.

That means that a child can roll off of the mattress into the “gutter” between the high wall of the bed and the mattress. Here’s a photo which shows what I’m talking about:

It’s important to mention that Step2 guidelines say that you should not use a crib mattress over 4 inches, which would result in the crib mattress only sticking up 1 inch. Our mattress is 6 inches thick (plus the comforter which I’ve tucked under the mattress), and therefore sticks up 3+ inches above the rails that hold the mattress in place. 

While my husband and I worried Jacob would roll off of his mattress all night and be uncomfortable, we haven’t heard one complaint from him. However, since our mattress does not meet the Step2 guidelines, we are going to just go ahead and purchase a twin mattress for him to solve the problem.

We made a little video to show you the features of the bed. Check it out!

Other than the weird fitting of the crib mattress, everything about this bed is just perfect! Jake adores his new bed and it looks great in his bedroom. The matching dresser will be released soon and we can’t wait to add it to his room! I think it will last him for years of fun, enjoyment, and good nights sleep!

Buy It: You can purchase the blue Step2 Hot Wheels Toddler-t0-Twin Bed directly from the Step2 website. It is priced at $349.99. You can also purchase it in red from Walmart and Sam’s club.