Bendaroos kind of reminds of the pipecleaners we used as a kid. We used to make little figures and animals by bending the wires. This is basically how Bendaroos works but their basically colored wax on a string. You can easily conform them to any shape. They can also be cut and stuck together without tools or glue.
It comes with 250 rainbow colored Bendroos plus 250 more Bendaroos in neon colors. They also include a fun guide for different craft ideas. You can find this product at Walmart or Walgreens. Product is very popular so phone before you go to pick them up! Wikki Sticks are very similar to Bendaroos but Wikki Sticks don’t have the variety of bold colors like Bendaroos.
Here’s a really great review that Heartland News did recently showing you what a classroom of younger kids thought of Bendaroos.
Pros
- Sticks hold their shape
- You can cut them
- Kids can build, draw, transform and decorate anything
- Kids can make neat decorative effects on the most ordinary items
- Multiple colors – regular and neon included in pack
- No glue, mess or stains
- Unbreakable
- Unbend sticks to reuse over and over again
- Could be used for adult decorative craft projects even though its marketed to kids
Here's a neat Bendaroos Snowman!
Cons
- It’s a choking hazard for children under three.
- There aren’t a lot of creative designs in the Bendaroos fun guide. The infomercial makes them so irresistible for kids yet don’t give them enough neat projects and kids.
- Unless your kids are very creative they may get bored of them quite easily.
- Smaller children might not have the manual dexterity to play with them on their own and may need mom and dad’s help.
- Both Bendaroos and Wikki Stiks leave a waxy residue on hands and surfaces. The worst part would be if you’re kids drop them on the carpet and step on them. These toys will leave a residue and carpet lint will be on the sticks.
- There is an issue with the billing system at the Bendaroos site. I’m not suggesting they are doing this intentionally. There are a few people who report that, once there after placing their order they are asked if they want an upgrade to buy more sticks for less money. But beware because each has an additional shipping and handling charge.
- There is no summary of your order before you check out. Then apparently if you call the office you have to wait around 4 hours for the order processing to go through before they can correct your order.
Bendaroos Art Ideas - Update Many of you are looking for creative little things your kids can do with Bendaroos. I scoured the internet and I did find something on the Wikki site. This product is very similiar to Bendaroos. They aren’t really exciting but I appreciate that they at least put something up on their site for kids. Bendaroo or Wikki Craft Projects Bendaroo or Wikki Educational Type Craft Projects Here are the links that open in a new window. Scroll down to the very bottom of the Wikki site pages. Then you’ll see pg 2 you can click on to see more crafts. You can also use those dot to dot books where kids trace the pictures. Kids can use those to trace a picture than let it dry and peel it off. Jennifer commented that her daughter uses pipecleaner art ideas when making Bendaroo crafts. Here’s some Bendaroos/pipecleaner art ideas on video. By the way, if you still want to try Bendaroos you can buy 500 piece Mega sets on eBay for a fairly good price.
eBay USA
eBay Canada - Bendaroos
eBay UK - Bendaroos
More Bendaroos Art Ideas
If you’re kids are looking for more creative ideas I found this “Pipecleaners Gone Crazy Book”. It has step by step pictures to show your kids to make all sorts of things. They can of course substitute pipecleaners for their Bendaroos. It covers the basics and kids can make the following… with easy step by step instructions with pictures so kids can understand. Flower, bee, bear, caterpillar, butterfly, dog, lion, tiger, mouse, bird, dinosaur, people, jewelry and food.
By the way, Martha Stewart seems into pipe cleaner art. So if you’re kids are looking for Christmas art work for Bendaroos they can print these out and follow the instructions and look at the finished art to help them along with their projects. You might not be using the exact same materials but kids can at least get some ideas from these pics.
Jewelery
Creatures
Candy Cane
Snowman
snowflake - more complex
reindeer - more complex
Bendaroos and Wikki Stix arts and crafts toys seem to be better suited for kids with a lot patience, a creative mind and fairly good manual dexterity. Otherwise they just might end up on a shelf somewhere gathering dust!
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14 responses so far ↓
1 andrea // Dec 13, 2008 at 10:15 am
i just want to thank you for this review. very informative and timely because my boys are asking for it (again and again.) and i was about to order it from the website, but i’m going to try walgreens first. thanks for the tip!
2 Theresa // Dec 14, 2008 at 1:28 am
Thanks Andrea,
So glad I could help. Yeah that was perfect timing! Last night I couldn’t decide what to review the Bendaroos or the new Pixos toy. Guess I choose well…. Have a great Christmas.
3 Diana // Dec 17, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I got mine at walmart for $19.99 and the package came with 500. I researched and the Bendaroos are better than Wikisticks because the Wikisticks leave a residue and gets carpet fibers, dust, hairs, etc stuck to them. I would just recommend you call your Walgreens before going to get them, because they seem to be pretty popular.
4 Theresa // Dec 18, 2008 at 1:01 am
Hi there Diana,
Thank you so much for leaving that helpful advice.
There are so many parents looking for info on this product and very little information available.
I completely forgot to check with Walmart to see if they’ve got it.
Theresa Kruger (admin)
5 Angie // Feb 25, 2009 at 11:40 am
I just placed an order from Bendaroos website and found this review. I called to customer service # and talked with Bendaroos customer serview representative.
It seems they did upgrad their customer service.
I talked with the representative in a minute and he was very kind and helpful. I also found out that Bendaroos are not available in Walmart or Walgreens in Texas. Only Eastcost area.
6 Theresa // Feb 25, 2009 at 3:52 pm
That’s good to hear…Thanks for the update Angie!
7 Sashalyn // May 9, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I completely agree that the infomercial gets the kids hooked on wanting this item b/c of all the cool things you could do, but the fun guide only includes a few. My daughter keeps asking me to help her make the ice cream one and I don’t even know where to start. It’s definitely not as easy as the infomercial shows it to be. The concept is cool, but it’d be nice to have more examples/instructions.
8 Jennifer // Aug 15, 2009 at 7:58 pm
If you google pipe cleaner crafts, there are tons of creatures that you can use as a base guide and embellish the designs a bit to make them more sturdy with bendaroos. We have done lots of designs this way.
9 Theresa // Aug 16, 2009 at 12:11 am
Oh wow thanks Jennifer! And here I’ve been racking my brain trying to find some ideas. I feel so dumb I never thought of that.
Here’s some Bendaroos/pipecleaner art ideas on video. There’s so many kids looking for some inspiration. Thanks so much!
10 SaraB // Oct 1, 2009 at 10:28 am
We’ve been using Wikki Sticks for years and only once in the last 3 years did we have an issue. My daughter left them in the car during the summer and of course they melted. They don’t leave anymore residue on hands then maybe play doh. Nothing a hand wipe or washing couldn’t fix. I’ve only noticed that happening after we’ve had them awhile and they are taken in and out of warm places. Such as the car. We love Wikki Sticks and I will not buy any other copy cat. Amazon has some kits now and both neon and rainbow colors. You get what you pay for and we will stick with Wikki. Bendaroos are at CVS as well.
11 Anne // Dec 12, 2009 at 1:04 am
Bendaroos is a great product because it allows my children to have fun and be creative.
12 Sarah // Jan 5, 2010 at 11:35 am
Bendaroo’s are great but I do agree the templates are hard to follow. My daughter usually just takes them out of the pack and uses her imagination! The neat thing about them is they stick to basically everything . I wonder if you can make a barbie dress out of them?? I guess I shall find out! There are so many naked barbies around this house! haha
13 Theresa // Jan 9, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Hey there’s a great idea…barbie clothing! That’s funny!
14 brooklyn // Mar 4, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Hey there’s a great idea…barbie clothing! That’s funny!
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