Alongside the Dsi Nintendo my daughter brought herself out of her birthday money, she discovered that she has a bit left over to spend, she was over the moon to find the product I will now review, as it did say in the television advert we had seen prior to going to Toys R Us, that these were only available to buy through a dedicated website.

The product I will now review is - "Bendaroos"

These are advertised as the "amazing flexible building sticks", they are shown on the advert as being the ideal thing to build 3D pictures and models, sticking to virtually any surface with them actually encouraging the child to build a picture or plaque on a wall in your house as they apparently don't stain walls or furnishings, with them being able to remove said picture or plaque and sticking them elsewhere upon completion.

The pack my daughter brought was deemed as the "mega pack", this contains 400 Bendaroos, two double sided templates, one instruction booklet and a complimentary "cut and join" tool, don't really see how this can be complimentary when she's paid for everything else!

The Bendaroos themselves are what I can only describe as pipe cleaners, coated with a tacky, bendy and soft layer of wax, this means they can be bent into any shape without the wax cracking, and can be twisted and stuck together with the other colours available in the pack, after use they can be removed from the masterpiece your child has created and straightened back ready for re-use. My daughter has done this on a few occasions and I have yet to see any wax flaking off or bare wires.

In the pack there is a vast array of colours available, this enables the child to make a plethora of models and crafts with the colouring being true to form.

My daughter decided that upon opening the pack she would attempt one of the pictures featured on the double sided cards, there is a lion and a crocodile to be made on the first card.
Even though the cards show you step by step methods of making the models, they of course never look like the picture, but I give Kaitlin her due she made a reasonable job of the lion's face.

The cutting tool mentioned earlier is actually invaluable, due to the wire within the Bendaroos it is reasonably difficult to cut them with bog standard kitchen scissors, the tool is plastic and very sturdy. There is a hole to thread the Bendaroo through, this ensures the child can cut the stick without ever getting their fingers near the blade within the tool. The joining part is situated at the front on the pincers part, this is really an unnecessary accessory as you could simply join with a twist, but if it's there so be it!

My daughter has thoroughly enjoyed this set, this has kept her entertained for many hours and in my humble opinion this is a really good set, this is geared towards the 5+ age range, though my four year old has enjoyed playing with it too.

As mentioned earlier there is no colour transferring onto walls and soft furnishings, even when the picture has been initially made there, it does however struggle to stick to everything as pre-advertised.

My daughter decided in her infinite wisdom that she was going to make name plaques for her and her brothers bedroom, and a blackbird for my bedroom door....not sure where that came from, I can only assume that is the only picture she really feels competent at making!

After making her name in Bendaroos and the also the bird, she stuck the bird to my bedroom door and her name to her wardrobe door. I swear if I have to pick Bendaroos from her sock draw once more this week I will commit harry cary!
Though in fairness not once has the Bendaroo stuck to her clothes or stained them in any way, which is more than can be said for my poor laminate flooring!
After cutting up some of the sticks some must have fallen onto the floor, and by god are they hard to pick off, the first two days after these were bought I seemed to spend the days on my hands and knees scraping them up with a knife!

Aside from this gripe these are actually much more welcome in my house than some of the other crafty items available for purchase now (you know the one's... Bindeez and the like!).

These are available in starter packs, these range from £10.00 upwards. This particular set cost £19.99, which yes, I agree is a little steep, but if brought through the website as stated it would have cost that and P&P, so this is the cheaper option!

For more information on availability visit - www.toysrus.co.uk

For more information on the product other products and colours available (they do neon online only!) visit - www.bendaroos.com

Thanks for reading x

As an afternote, i have since found out that the Bendaroos are not made of wire but rather string, then covered in wax, not sure why the scissors struggle to cut them!