I just started to work with bind_param I have a simple HTML form to enter Firstname Lastname and Age into the database however when it is to insert I am getting the call to a member function bind_param() on a non-object error which points to the following line: $stmt->bind_param('ssi',$_POST['$fname'],$_POST['$lname'],$_POST['$age']); below is the insert code: can I please have a few extra pair of eyes to aid 
<?php
        $mysqli=@new mysqli('localhost','root','password','test');
        if($mysqli->connect_errno){
            die('Connect Error:'.$mysqli->connect_errno);
        }            
        $stmt=$mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO tester VALUES (?,?,?)");
        $stmt->bind_param('ssi',$_POST['$fname'],$_POST['$lname'],$_POST['$age']);
        $stmt-> execute();
        printf("%d Row Inserted.\n\n",$stmt->affected_rows);
        $stmt->close();
        $mysqli->close();
    ?>
 
    