hexbugsd

By Contributor Jen Shragge

HexBugs were created in 2007 by parent company Innovation First International. The idea behind the toys was to introduce the concepts of robotics to young children. I think this in and of itself sets this toy company apart from traditional toy companies that are solely focused on entertainment.

The line of HexBugs includes a variety of different bugs and there are also a small selection of small cars and vehicles as well. We were sent two different spiders that included tiny remote controls (and by tiny I mean tiny – think smaller than a match book). To say that my son loved them would be an understatement. During a recent play date, his little friend spotted them right away and didn’t want to play with anything else for the two hours he was at our house!

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I find the movements of the spiders almost lifelike and dare I say it, creepy. They really do move like a giant spider! I also read in the instructions that if you have two of them, they can “battle” but we could not for the life of us figure out how to do this. When we had the two of them together, one remote controlled both spiders and so the “battle” part just didn’t seem possible. That being said, I’m sure if I gave them to two ten year olds they would probably figure it out in ten seconds flat.

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With a Canadian MSRP of approximately $25.00 these are on the higher end of a toy purchase for something so small, but I think that the robotic technology in them was very impressive and does justify the cost. Even with the boys not being able to figure out how to use the “battle” function, they played happily with them for hours. I think HexBugs are a great option for kids ages 7 and up who are keen on how things work and move, and they’re a technically-advanced toy without being a video game.

Disclosure: I received a sample of a product to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided and all views and opinions stated on this post are 100% my own.

Jen Shragge lives just south of Vancouver, BC with her Kid and Hubby with a new one on the way. When she’s not trying to make the world greener she is trying to get her family to eat more greens. She writes about her attempts and includes her recipes at cookingforthecarnivore.