There’s a little toy store near me that sells all manner of toys that you can’t find in Toys R Us or Target. It’s overstuffed with puppets, Playmobil sets and doll house furniture and it’s just one of those places where kids get completely lost in (think Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium). This is the place where my 8-year-old (A), discovered her first Hog Wild Bender.

The next bender will occur when she’s in college, I’m sure (ba-dum-chee).

A owns the above Bender, as well as a few others that I’ll list in a second. Benders remind me of the kind of toys my childless uncle owned – you probably had a relative just like this too – very fun to hang out with, loved to read science ficton and go to newly released Star Wars flicks and had a house devoid of anything childlike except fragile toys like G.I. Joe collectibles and model planes which, of course, you weren’t supposed to touch, except you couldn’t help yourself because there was nothing else to play with…

The strange thing about Benders, or at least some Benders, is that the package says “not a toy!” They are actually quite fragile and if you bend them too much, their limbs tend to fall off. As such, I wouldn’t recommend these for kids under the age of 8. I have seen several different age indications for various benders from 6+ to 8+ but they all share the same wiry fragility – so buyer beware.

We own the following wonderfully cute and fun-to-play with Benders:

Space Monkey Benders

Bug Benders, Wasp

(The Bug Benders are good starter Benders as they’re pretty sturdy)

Frankenbender

(my favorite)

Benders retail from between $5-$20 and make really good gifts. All Benders come in a tin case of some sort and in some instances the case is part of the toy itself (A has a skate board Bender and the top of the case is the skateboard).

| Category Super Cool Toys, Toy Gift Ideas