The Cooper Kit is a quarterly subscription box specifically for fathers and their children to spend quality time playing, building, and learning together. This was my family's first Cooper Kit, so I couldn't wait to see how it worked for us!
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: The Cooper Kit by Cooper & Kid
The Cost: $65 per quarter + $13 shipping = $78 total per box
The Products: Each box contains 6-9 activities for fathers and their children (age 5-9) to complete together, plus additional online resources.
Ships to: US for $13
I loved this quote on the side of the box!
This quarter's theme is apparently music, and I couldn't be happier! Both my husband and I are musicians, so I knew he would love it too.
The website states that "Each Cooper Kit contains multiple curated products and activities designed to enrich your quality time with your children (and have a good time while doing it), as well as:
*A shipping box that turns into a toy!
*An activity book that guides you through the theme and the contents of the box
*A bedtime story
*A separate website of related digital resources
*Links to even MORE theme-related activities that are ëBeyond the Boxí
*Parenting and topical links to resources that are ëJust for Dadí
*A themed dinner menu with recipes (guys are doing a ton of cooking for the family these days)"
Moreover, Cooper Kit promises to make memories, and to be:
"*Educational via discovery
*Hands on building
*Themed for both Dads and kids
*Multi-activity (6-9 activities)
*Geography neutral (i.e. no snow required)
*Gender neutral (for the kids)
*A catalyst for self-expression and creativity
*Both nostalgic and current"
Whew! That's a lot of promises! Let's see how they measured up...
The first thing I noticed is the back of the box, so it does look like the box will be turned into a toy!
This is a much more substantial activity guide than I've ever seen in any kids' activity box! It is, indeed, packed with info and resources for Dad.
The card on the right gives all the details for a contest kids can enter to win Star Wars products by submitting a music video!
This is a small bundle of parts needed to build a flute.
It looks like somehow this milk jug will be turned into a banjo!
It's a little hard to tell, but this is turquoise hair chalk for achieving that punk rock look!
This was the item I was most excited to see in the box. It's a kit to build desktop drums!
Here's the bedtime story - Punk Farm by Jarrett J Krosoczka. It's new to us, and it got 5 stars on Amazon.
These are the rest of the items included to complete the activities.
So, that's what came in the box. As this is a subscription for Dads and kids, I handed it over to my husband and tried to be a fly on the wall while they completed some of the activities. They were very interested and excited to get busy!
This is the completed banjo. It actually gets a good sound, and it has a tuning peg and everything! I was a little disappointed that it only has one string, but I think the point here was learning about how stringed instruments work. It would have been a lot more work to create a multi-stringed instrument. I also have to note here that assembling this banjo required a drill, so it truly is an activity that requires parental involvement.
This is the completed amplifier, created out of the shipping box. They made this one while I was away, so I'm not 100% sure how it works, but it works. My older son (age 8) was unhappy with the sound it makes, and my husband was a little frustrated that he couldn't get the inside parts to stay put. It looks like they built a really cool toy, but it sounds like they didn't have as much fun with this activity as with the others.
This is the completed pentatonic pan flute, which they really enjoyed making. The notes it produces are an accurate pentatonic scale, which is cool and taught them some new things about music theory. It doesn't make much noise, though, and boys love making noise. Now would be a good time for a working amplifier!
Finally, this is the drum set they built. They love it! They also had fun building it because it kind of just snaps together, so they all had a part in figuring out how to build it. My husband tried to halfway follow the directions, but it was very simple to assemble, so it wound up just being a flurry of activity!
The Cooper kit is designed to last a whole quarter, so while they are finished building their instruments, there are tons of things they haven't done yet. I don't think they have read the book yet, and they still have to come up with some tunes, chalk their hair and otherwise suit up, make a music video, enter the Star Wars contest, and explore all the other resources provided in the activity guide.
Verdict: The Cooper Kit absolutely delivered on all of its promises! Before receiving this box, I could not have imagined that there could be a kids' activity box that could last an entire quarter, but this one definitely will. Some activities were more fun than others, and some things worked better than others, but they learned a lot and they spent great quality time together. My husband and the kids all love it, so I am very happy!
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