Atlas Crate is a subscription box for kids from parent company KiwiCo. This box is designed to spark the curiosity and sense of adventure in children ages 6-11 and help them become citizens of the world. Each month they will deliver materials and instructions to provide hands-on experiences to help them develop their sense of cultural awareness.
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 $19.95 a month Atlas Crate box, for 6-11-year-olds.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Atlas Crate
The Subscription Box: Atlas 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 about the world.
Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $6.95 per month
Atlas Crate April 2019 "Bonjour!" Review
The country we explored this month was France and we received this envelope full of information. I love the greeting in another language and the detail of the string closure on the back, it makes it just a smidge more exciting being able to physically open this!
This envelope unfolded to show us a contents list and several pages to add to our Adventure Book. Everything in this box is incredibly organized and nicely packaged making it easy to locate it all!
We received this Adventure Book in our first box and this month they gave us a France sticker to add to the front of it. The rings of the book open up so that we can add more pages as we receive them.
Our first box was based on the World and contained cards for each of the continents. This time we were able to locate the continent in our book and add our pages behind it.
These cards are bright and vibrant and full of tons of information about France on each side. I always enjoy the fun facts page and I love how they highlighted Monet on the cards as well!
The other pages included some activities such as instructions on how to play a game called Escargot and a recipe for Gougeres which are a type of cheese puff that looks delicious. They also included some great instructions on how to do Mime, which is pretty fun for a kid!
Activity #1: Racing Cyclist
Our first activity was to make a racing cyclist as an introduction to the Tour de France. I thought this was definitely a unique aspect of France to highlight!
First, I had to slide a foam circle onto a dowel, then I added two larger cardboard circles on either side to form our bike wheel.
I layered on a few more pieces to one side of the dowel including a yellow circle and this long piece that will help our wheel move.
Another yellow circle went onto the other side and then I slid the dowel through the hole on our bicycle and cyclist piece and secured it with a purple circle and a clear ring.
I added a second dowel to the bottom of the bar piece fitting it right into the square hole and then added three metal disks before attaching the dowel to the piece at the bottom of our bicycle.
Next, I used the small clear rubber bands to secure the dowel. Then, I tested out our wheel with the piece of string they provided by weaving it behind the bicycle and around the wheel.
Nex, I assembled the leg by connecting the two pieces at the knee with a little gray rivet. I did the same with the pedal.
To the top of the leg, I added a brad and then slid a blue bead onto it before attaching it to the hip of our cyclist.
Then, I opened the ends of the brad to secure it.
Then I added a little sticky square foam piece to the dowel at the wheel and stuck our pedal on to look like he was really cycling.
I threaded the string through and he was ready to go!
Here my daughter is operating our cyclist for you. They gave us instructions for how to move the string to make him go faster or slower which was fun to play around with!
They even provided some cycling tips and fun facts about the Tour de France which I thought were pretty cool.
Activity #2: Stained Glass Window
Our next project was to paint our own Cathedral Rose Window similar to the one at Notre Dame. While the timing on this is rather unfortunate, it was a great opportunity to talk to my daughter about current events and explain what an iconic building this really is!
They provided us with a cardboard cathedral cut out, a translucent sheet, and paints with a brush.
The idea was to paint over top of the cathedral so you would paint only the parts that would show through the rose window. I taped the translucent sheet (which was pretty thick by the way) on top and to a tray so that it wouldn't move around on her. I was actually a little worried that she wouldn't be able to paint small enough (she's 4 and a half), but she did a fantastic job and really surprised me! I did have to help her with the tiny window at the top, but other than that, she completed this independently.
We had to let it dry overnight, but you can see in the bottom picture that it still dried nice and shiny and even pretty thickly.
I folded the tabs of our cardboard piece at the marked creases and then removed the paper backing to reveal our adhesive. I placed our painted piece on top making sure to place it at the right spots for our paint to shine through.
Then, I folded in the tabs and set it up in our window to see how it looked with the light coming through. It's actually really pretty and the light shines through much more than I expected.
On the back of our instructions sheet, they also included some more facts about Notre Dame.
Verdict: I have always had a fondness for France, so this month's Atlas Crate was one I was excited about. I think making our own cyclist was a fun project and the Rose Window turned out beautifully! I love that these boxes give you just a taste of the culture and life in the country they highlight and everything is always so well organized with easy to follow instructions. This box continues to be a fun and educational experience that we enjoy for $19.95 plus free shipping each month!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, it is likely, but keep this in mind- from Kiwi Co:
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 5-8 and ages 9-12 in the Kids Subscription Box List!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of Atlas Crate?
Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.