KiwiCo Eureka Crate Review + Coupon – March 2019

Eureka Crate (from parent company KiwiCo) is a subscription box for teens and adults ages 14-104. It arrives every month with all the materials and instructions needed to create a functional, lasting object with a focus on engineering. The goal of these projects is to use science and math to solve real-world problems while inspiring them to become creative innovators.

KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Tadpole Crate for 0-36-month-olds, Koala Crate for 3-4-year-olds, Kiwi Crate for 5-8-year-olds, Atlas Crate for 6-11-year-olds, Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate for 9-16+-year-olds, and Eureka Crate for ages 14 and up. There really is something for every age with this company.

This review is of the $29.95 a month Eureka Crate, for 14-year-olds and up.

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 Eureka Crate

The Subscription Box: Eureka Crate

The Cost: $29.95 per month + free shipping

The Products: Detailed instructions and all of the high-quality materials needed to create a unique, lasting and functional engineering project as well as a Maker's Guide that explains the science and technology behind it.

Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $6.95 per month

KiwiCo Eureka Crate "Stereo Headphones" Review

The project for this month is to make our own Stereo Headphones. What a great project! I was definitely excited about it when I opened the box! This was the included Maker's Guide that provided detailed, step-by-step instructions as well as information about the design and science behind it. The booklet was fairly thick and in color with a lot of helpful information and images. There was also a great little bubble at the top that provided information on the key components, skills, complexity and time to complete, which was 45 minutes to an hour, but I think it actually took me less than 45 minutes. For the Build pages, they were separated into various parts, which was great for breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

The booklet included some information about the history of personal headphone designs and some information on our speaker drivers and how they work. The most interesting part to me that they include is the page about how Kiwi Co. went about designing their headphones. They measured 50 heads for headphone fit, tested 5 different types of speaker drivers and broke 6 headphones for research! They also describe how they chose plastic cups for the earpieces because the sound was better, but the wood pieces on the outside are meant to block background noise. This just gives you an idea of how much thought and effort goes into creating these projects!

Part A: Build the Headband

The first step was to build our headband. They provided this strip of black foam and a soft sleeve to insert it into. This was a little tricky, but both pieces seemed like nice quality and they fit well together after a little bit of effort.

Next, we slid these metal pieces in between the sleeve and the foam and made sure they were spread apart.

Then I added two foam rectangle stickers to the rectangle spots on this red piece.

Then I removed the paper from the adhesive on the foam and stuck the metal ends onto them. 

I then added these thin black foam stickers to these wooden rectangles.

I added two more adhesive foam rectangles to the tops of the metal bars and then stuck the black foam side of the rectangle down so that it lined up with the holes.

They provided several screws and an Allen wrench for us. I added a screw to the top hole of the rectangle and tightened until the red plastic peg was even with the wooden rectangle.

These wooden pieces fit right over the red piece.

To hold it in place, I added a black foam sticker to this wooden piece and placed it over top making sure to line the holes up again.

Then I added a screw and again tightened until the red peg was flush with the wooden piece. Then, I repeated these steps for the other side of the headband. This was really all very simple thanks to the pieces they provided and the way they fit together so easily.

Part B: Build the Speakers

The next part was to build the speaker. They included a page to explain the technology behind our speaker drivers.

Our drivers came packaged in this box and they explained how important it was not to touch the soft fronts of them because they are sensitive. This made our next step a bit tricky!

We had to stick the drivers face down into these plastic cups. These fit almost perfectly inside, so it was hard to get them in without touching the face of the drivers!

Once the drivers were in, I stuck the metal end of these wires into the hole at the bottom.

Then I twisted this plastic piece onto the end and tightened it to hold the wires in place.

I added a foam rectangle to the side of the cup wall to hold the driver in place. Then it was time to connect the wires - black to black and red to yellow and we left the blue one alone.

The other speaker was the same, but this time we connected the red and blue instead and left the yellow alone.

Then we used our Allen wrench and screws to screw these wooden pieces to the outside of the cups. I love the little frequency design on the right speaker.

Then, I added these foam earpieces to our cups. They fit right into a little recessed area and fit snugly around the rim.

Now our speakers were finished!

Part C: Connect the Speakers

Now it was time to assemble our headphones and connect the speakers.

The ends of the wooden pieces at the bottom of the headbands fit right into a notch on the side of the speakers. The way they fit allows the earpiece to move back and forth which is helpful when putting them on your head to ensure a good (and comfortable) fit.

 They included this auxiliary cord that featured one cord on one side and two on the other. The side with two went into the bottom of each of our speakers while the other end hooks to your listening device. They even have a little volume control on them that allows you to turn the volume all the way off if you want.

Here are the speakers on. They are surprisingly comfortable and very easy to adjust for a good fit and I actually think they're kind of cute!

I love that they never just stop there, but instead, they continue on to provide pages of audio experiments! They provided a website for us to go to and listen to various audio clips to test out the sound of our new headphones.

My son had fun testing them out and he loved listening to the audio clip of birds. One clip played in the left ear only while another played in the right ear and then one played in both. It was fun to test him and see where he heard the bird sounds! I love that they make it an educational experience, too! Another bonus is that now I don't have to listen when he watches Daniel Tiger for the billionth time!

They even provided an experiment on wiring and directions on how to switch your wires around to play around with the sound. Overall, I was really impressed with the sound quality of these headphones! One of the audio clips featured what sounded like background noise from a classroom and it definitely felt like I was right there in the class! Plus, I think they really did block out some of the background noise.

Another nice thing that they include in the booklet is this Design Challenge section. This one looks like it explores ways to amp up your sound using household items. So creative! I've definitely used the bowl trick a lot to amplify the sound from my phone, so it was cool to see other methods!

Verdict: I was really surprised by this month's Eureka Crate project! Building a set of headphones is something I would have considered to be an awesome project as a kid and I love that they are such a practical item. The sound quality is great and they are really comfortable. I definitely plan on using these! I have a pair of wireless earbuds, but I can never seem to find them so the larger size of these will be great to have around and easy to locate when I need them! This was a great way to use STEM skills to create something that I think will definitely appeal to the targeted age group and I thought the educational information was all really interesting and helpful. For $29.95 + free shipping, I think this was a great value for such an awesome project that we can use again and again!

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? It is possible you might get this crate, but it is not a guarantee. From KiwiCo:

Crates are assigned each month based on availability and your crate history - not all subscribers receive the same theme each month.

Check out all of our KiwiCo reviews and more boxes for ages 14+ in the Tweens Subscription Box List!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What do you think of Eureka Crate?