When I first saw the Svan Scooter I was most excited about the four most important things that I look for in new toys (but rarely ever find).

1) It’s made in un-China.
2) It requires absolutely no assembly.
3) It’s not plastic and doesn’t leech carcinogenic chemicals.
4) It doesn’t use batteries, light up or make horribly unnatural noises.

What’s not to love?

But once my son actually tried it (meaning he woke up in the morning, spotted it, ran for it and jumped on immediately) I loved it for even more reasons. It scoots easily on both the carpet and the hard floors (but goes MUCH faster on the hard floors) and turns on a dime, allowing him to drive like a maniac and love every minute of it. The seat is only 9″ off the ground so when he inevitably uses the seat as a stool to help him reach something even more dangerous he doesn’t have too far to fall. As kids grow, I can imagine some wonderful creative play being inspired by this wonderfully simple toy. Since play is not boxed in as it would be by a plastic car with headlights and a steering wheel that plays a song with the lyrics “Vroom vroom, I’m a car!”, kids are free to make the Svan Scooter into anything they can dream up. Perhaps a chariot, a dragon or even a unicorn?

It’s simply a piece of ergonomically shaped bent birch wood with three rubber wheels that don’t mark the floors. It’s designed for kids 12-36 months and holds up to 50 lbs.

I absolutely love the simplicity of the Svan Scooter. I may be biased due to my partially Swedish ancestry but I often wonder why we don’t take more of the lessons that we could learn from the European & Scandinavian countries when it comes to their toys, foods and so much more. Ah well, at least we can still buy their stuff online! You can hook your kids up with the Svan Scooter from Amazon.

We’ve got a Svan Scooter to give away! Valued at $120 USD, this is one giveaway you definitely won’t want to miss. To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com before midnight MST on Friday 9/28/07 with Svan Scooter in the subject line and tell us the length and height dimensions available from the Svan site. Congratulations Kellie!