How to pick the Hex Bot that suits your floor

• Start with the floor, not the bot
• Decide how much control you want
• Match the age on the box
• Think about the second purchase
• Check what charges and what does not
• What kind of HEX BOTS robot toys suit which kid
• Where kids get bored, and what to buy next

Start with the floor, not the bot

Walk the room you are buying for. Hard laminate, tile or sealed wood means every bot we make will work, nano bots included. Deep carpet rules the nanos out completely and leaves you with the rechargeable creatures and the wall crawlers, both of which have the motor to drag themselves over pile. If the room has one good smooth wall, the gecko becomes the obvious answer, because a climbing toy in a carpeted room is still a climbing toy.

Decide how much control you want

A nano bot has no controls at all beyond an on switch, which is why it is the easiest gift and the hardest to put down. A wall crawler or a creature puts a full-function remote in your hand — forward, reverse, both turns — and changes the play from watching to driving. Between the two sits the Explodapede, which will take instructions from the remote or run its own route if you let it.

Match the age on the box

Our wall crawlers, the tarantula, the widow, the Explodapede, Nano Land and the launcher are marked from 4 and up. The nano multi-packs and the dragon carry an 8 to 10 and up rating, mostly because the parts are smaller and the cells are button-sized. Both numbers are printed on the listing and repeated on each product page here, so nobody has to guess.

Think about the second purchase

Nano bots multiply. One is a curiosity, six is a swarm, and the moment there are more than two in a house somebody asks for walls to keep them in. If you expect that to happen, starting with a multi-pack and adding a playset later costs less than buying singles one at a time.

Check what charges and what does not

Skitter bots and nanos run on LR44 button cells that come fitted, and when they slow down you swap them. Every rechargeable creature and wall crawler charges from a USB cable in the box. The remotes are the awkward part — most want 2 AAA cells that are not supplied, so buy a pack with the bot and save yourself the first evening.

What kind of HEX BOTS robot toys suit which kid

Sort the shelves by how much the child wants to be in charge. A kid who wants to steer takes a remote: the gecko wall crawlers and the big robot creatures both put the actions in your hands, and a sibling can take a turn. A kid who only wants to watch takes nano bots, where the movement is random and the fun is the chase. A kid who likes building takes a playset and spends the afternoon making a track rather than driving anything.

None of these are educational robot kits. There is no coding and no lesson; children stay engaged by the design of the thing itself — legs that move, lights that flash, friends laughing at a plastic spider. The first experience is always the same, whichever shelf you pick: the bot goes somewhere nobody planned.

Where kids get bored, and what to buy next

A nano bot stops being interesting when the floor runs out of obstacles, which is why the playsets exist. A wall crawler stops being interesting when the only walls left are papered or textured, and that is the one surface the suction belly cannot hold. The big robot creatures stay in play longest, because they are rechargeable and because the remote gives a kid something to practise.

If a child has outgrown the age printed on one box, the next shelf up is usually a better answer than a second bot from the same one. Climbing beats scurrying for most kids by about seven years old.