Kiwi Crate (from parent company KiwiCo) is a subscription box for children ages 5-8. It arrives every month with all the materials and instructions needed to complete 2-3 crafts centered around a theme, plus additional materials to help educate young learners!
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Cricket Crate is for 24-36-month-olds, Koala Crate is for 3-4-year-olds, Kiwi Crate is for 5-8-year-olds, and Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate are for 9-16+-year-olds. There really is something for every age with this company.
This review is of the $19.95 a month Kiwi Crate box, for 5-8-year-olds.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Kiwi Crate
The Subscription Box: Kiwi Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping
The Products: Crafts and DIY projects for kids, with supplemental learning kits, booklets, and activities. Crates are filled with materials and inspiration to encourage creativity and curiosity. Projects cover a number of developmental areas through art, science, and imaginative play.
Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $6.95 per month
Kiwi Crate March 2018 Review
The theme for this month was Secret Agent. This was the included booklet that showed us the various activities in our crate and provided instructions. The pictures are very clear - detailed and in color and I like that they always provide a materials list for everything that should be in your crate.
On the back of the booklet was our sticker for this month’s project and their social media links.
This is the little sticker chart that we received in our first Kiwi Crate along with our welcome note. This time we got to add our Secret Agent sticker after we finished making everything.
Each month you get a Kiwi Explore! magazine that goes along with your crate’s theme. There is a letter from Steve the Kiwi and a little story to go along with the theme. This month’s was about spies and codes. The rest of the magazine is filled with additional activities and information.
The extra activities this month included some different ways to write secret messages with items from around the house, a wacky look-and-find page, and a section on fingerprints. They also gave a few ideas for creating fingerprint artwork which I thought was cute and fun.
The magazine also had a page on codes and included instructions for a code maker in the back of the magazine. I love all of these extension activities. It definitely feels like a bonus to me and the ideas are always really fun and unique to the crate theme.
Our first activity was to build our own periscope. Again I was impressed with how well everything was organized and how they included everything we needed. The directions were easy to follow with pictures and step by step instructions and the build itself was pretty simple. They also included a fun page about different ways that you can use your periscope to go exploring.
The first step was to attach the included mini mirrors. These already had a sticky back which made it so easy to just peel off and apply to the cardboard. All of the folds and cuts were already made on the periscope so it was just a matter of folding it and securing it with the included rubber bands.
We completed the folding of one side and then did the same to the other. Then we slid the two pieces together and used the large blue band they included to hold the pieces snugly in place and our periscope was complete! They really think of all the little details and make it so easy!
The next section was all about creating secret messages. I loved the packaging with the little top secret folders for the paper! So cute and special for a kid!
First, we got to use our markers to write some secret messages on the special paper. Words were hidden a little better than pictures on the paper, but they even provided an explanation for why some colors showed up better than others.
Then we had to use our special glasses to view the messages. It was fun for me and my daughter to take turns drawing stuff for each other and finding hidden pictures with the glasses.
They also included a special UV pen for us to use for secret messages. We used our white paper to draw a map with the pen and then marked secret areas with the marker. Then we were able to shine the light on it to show the invisible ink.
They included plenty of extra papers for us to use to create even more secret messages and to pack into our Secret Agent briefcase.
The last step of our crate was to put together our briefcase. They used such basic materials and designed it in a way I would never have thought of! They had strategically marked holes and used simple materials like rubber bands and brads to hold everything together.
After it was put together, all of our Secret Agent gear fit perfectly inside and the markers and pen even had their own special place.
One of the extra activities they had was this little badge for us to cut out and complete. This is just one of those little things that makes this box feel so special! They really do think of it all!
Verdict: This month’s Kiwi Crate was a hit! The Secret Agent theme was exciting and I loved all of the tools they included for us to use to create secret messages. The briefcase to put everything in was perfect and they made everything seem so official and fun. They also provided a ton of extra activities that we can try later. Once again, the crate was creative, age appropriate and well thought out! At $19.95 plus free shipping, I think it was a great value for all of the supplies and activities we received, especially since we can use the materials over and over again.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, sign up now for the April box.
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Check out all of our Kiwi Crate reviews and the Kids Subscription Box Directory!
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