In the last six month a new toy has become “the thing to have”.It’s out of wood and called “Kendama”. It is a traditional japanese toy consisting of a ken (sword) and tama (ball) connected by a string.
It’s been very popular for a few months now and when I told a 
few german friends, they didn’t even know what it is. NPR’s monkey see calls it a potential viral sensation.
Our kids love it and it takes their attention away from screens and actually boosts the eye-hand-coordination. There are some people that do awesome stuff with these things.
Here is a video about the 10 basic Kendama tricks
And here you watch the most amazing Kendama Ninjas
In Germany you can actually buy them on kendama-germany and amazon.de
I can highly recommend this toy! I’ve seen 6 year old kids mastering it pretty well. It’s kind of weird that Kendama USA recommends it for kids 13+. Well, yes, the string can come off but that’s something a younger kid might be able to anticipate, too. I guess it’s about the american liability madness.
Play away! It’s fun.
