HEXBUG Nano Review

I first heard about the HEXBUG Nano through MomSelect. I dislike most creepy crawlies, but these are really neat! The HEXBUG Nano is a robotic toy that acts like a bug. They vibrate to move on rubbery legs and use a single AG13/LR44 battery. They can flip themselves over and back again. They come in 3 sets (Newton Motion, Newton Orbit and Newton Gravity) that each come in 5 collectible colors. You can also purchase Habitat Sets that the HEXBUG Nano's can travel on. Each set comes with 2 extremely rare HEXBUG Nano mutations that all the kids will be envious of. On the Battle Bridge Habitat Set you can also battle two bugs together in the arena until one falls off. You can collect them all and play games online with a code that comes with the bugs.

We received the HEXBUG Nano Party Pack which included: 30 HEXBUG Nano test tubes (enough for my children and all of our guests to keep 3 of their own), 1 HEXBUG Nano Habitat Set in retail package (contains two extremely rare Nano mutations, four easy connect curved pieces, three easy connect straight pieces, and three easy connect hexagon pieces), 1 HEXBUG Nano Bridge Battle Habitat Set in retail package (comes with 29 easy connect pieces and two rare HEXBUG Nanos), 1 Spiral Ramp (5 orange track pieces that snap together to form a spiral), 1 extra Battle Bridge piece, 30 Standoffs, 20 Straight Bridges, 30 Curved Bridges and 12 Hex Cells!

We really enjoy watching these go through their mazes. The Habitat Sets are simple to set up which is a big plus. My boys love setting them up in all different kinds of configurations. They can use their imaginations to create new and distinct variations of the mazes so the bugs can go through totally different ways. Although for $8 a bug it gets a bit expensive and you do go through the batteries fast. I think the concept for the bugs took a lot of engineering to produce them and this is possibly why they cost so much.

We also made some of the recipes they suggested we make for the party. All were a hit especially the Caterpillar Kabobs which were gone in a matter of minutes. Here are some of them in case you want to try them out too:

Scary Spider (Veggies and Dip)
Ingredients:
One round loaf Pumpernickel bread
Veggies for dipping: celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, green/red pepper slices, broccoli, etc.

Directions:
Hollow out a pumpernickel loaf and fill it with veggie dip of your choice or "Grasshopper Dip". Create "legs" using 8 large celery sticks stuck into each side of the bread. Using 2 toothpicks attach half a green pepper as a head. Place 2 cherry tomatoes on the top of the toothpicks for eyes. Surround with the rest of the veggies for dipping.

Grasshopper Dip
Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 ripe tomato
garlic salt
onion salt
ground black pepper

Directions:
Slice each of the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pits. Scoop the inside of the avocados into a small bowl. Add lemon juice and blend. Sprinkle garlic salt, onion salt and black pepper to taste. Carefully mix in one chopped tomato. Serve immediately.

Snail Shells (roll up pinwheel sandwiches), Beetle Juice (green juice made up of lemonade, ginger-ale, ice and green food coloring...we put gummy bugs in it), Caterpillar Kabobs (melon balls threaded on skewers...toothpicks and blue berries make the antennae), Ants on a Log and Worms and Dirt dessert.

We played some fun games that were included with the party too and when the party was over we sent the guests home with their HEXBUG Nano and my kids had fun a little while longer to play with the sets.

Here you can watch them in action:


DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to MomSelect and BSM Media and Innovation First Labs, Inc. for giving me information about the HEXBUG Nano and for providing me a Party Pack for free to test and review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.