why the fuck are you talking about recorders, it's a flute....? (searched for it just right now and found out that's the name in English and it doesn't make sense at all, but OK)
Anyway, they're cheap, light, accessible, straightforward: no complex skill required to blow or get a correct tone. Flute got me into reading music. Terrible teachers unable to comprehend that a teenager needs something fun to play instead of boring music study books got me out of it.