When it comes to toys, we all want to give as gifts those that are on the educational side. Well, almost all toys claim to be ‘educational’ anyway, and maybe some of you are looking for something seriously brain-stimulating or advanced. But let’s also keep in mind that kids want toys to have fun, not really to learn what can be taught in school. Well, I know a subtle way to introduce STEM to little ones: a robotic toy! You’ll think it’s geeky, but kids will think it’s super cool!
The Hexbug Fire Ant is a remote-controllable robotic toy bug that can ‘crawl’ around really fast. It can practically crawl on smooth and not-so-smooth but flat-ish surfaces because of its eccentrically designed wheels that look more like quirky curved spokes without closures, resembling insect legs that you wouldn’t expect to roll around but they do, and they can roll fast like how bugs crawl. The Fire Ant has infrared sensors that light up. The pack already includes three button cell batteries for the Fire Ant, and two for its wireless IR remote control, so that’s a total of five batteries. Both bug and RC are very compact, they’re pretty simple to look at, both transparent where you can see the tiny circuit boards inside.
I wasn’t expecting a lot about this little thing, but my kids seemed curious enough to want to try it. I had to remind them though to be careful with it because it’s so small. But thank goodness, it lights up and makes a sound while crawling so somehow it can be recognized by someone oblivious. It only took us less than a minute before we finally got the hang of making the Fire Ant move around smoothly all around the house, and I must say we enjoyed chasing it around and making it gently bump into a few soft things. Sometimes I get freaked out because it can run around like a cockroach, but my kids love it, it’s now their favourite bug!
Because the Hexbug Fire Ant moves fast and in a creepy crawly way, it’s also great for racing. It can race against another Fire Ant by using their Channel 1 and Channel 2 remotes. But I’d like to try racing it with perhaps an RC car, or maybe a real bug, or a cat! It’s also fun to make it go around mazes. When turned on but not in use, it automatically goes on sleep mode after 5 minutes of being idle.
The Hexbug Fire Ant is available in various colours: red, blue, green, orange, and yellow. It’s recommended for kids aged 8 and up, and it meets CPSIA standards. It is just one of the many intelligent bugs from the HEXBUG Micro Robotic Creatures product line, which aims to give children an enjoyable introductory experience to robotics. HEXBUG robotic toys are made by Innovation First, which is also the producer of VEX Robotics for educational and competitive robotic products.
Kids are getting techier and techier as the years go by, so why not be their coolest parent or godparent this holiday season? The Hexbug Fire Ant gives them a break from screen gadgets, yet keeps their techy brains energized with educational robotic play.
