Tadpole Crate, previously called “Cricket Crate”, is the toddler subscription box offering from KiwiCo, designed for hands-on learning and fun every month!
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Tadpole Crate is for 0-36 months, Koala Crate for ages 3-4, Kiwi Crate for ages 5-8, Atlas Crate for ages 6-11, and Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate are for ages 9-16 and up, and the new Eureka Crate for ages 14-104.
This review is of the $19.95 a month Tadpole Crate for kids ages 0-36 months.
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Tadpole Crate
The Subscription Box: Tadpole Crate
The Cost: $19.95 a month + free shipping
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 40% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: 2-3 fun and developmentally appropriate projects, a magazine, online resources and a board book for you and your toddler!
Ships to: US
Tadpole Crate "Ocean Games" Review
My family was excited to review this month's, Tadpole Crate! KiwiCo's teaching methodology perfectly aligns with how my kids learn today. My son is in early pre-school and goes to a school focused on hands-on and project-based learning. His big sister, my 2nd-grader, was happy to assist her little brother with the projects.
This month’s theme is “Ocean Games” where kids learn how to match, sort, and classify objects through simple and age-appropriate activities.
Tadpole Crate includes Wonder Magazine which is full of information, tips and fun activities related to the month’s theme.
The magazine highlights the activities and includes information on how to engage your children along with additional learning resources.
Wonder Magazine also offers additional DIY activities sometimes requiring supplies not included in the box. It’s a great way to continue the fun after the projects are complete.
This month's Tadpole Crate includes two fun and engaging projects: Ocean Sort and Sea Creatures. Ocean Sort and Sea Creatures builds developmental skills including gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, matching and sorting, and identifying. Included are detailed instructions and everything needed for both projects.
Here are the materials for the Ocean Sort project. It includes an ocean pouch that functions as both a play area and easy storage for the project pieces. Also included is a fishing pole, felt sea creatures in various shapes and colors and sorting cards featuring a color or sea creature.
Here are the materials for the Sea Creatures project. It includes a turtle frame, a fish frame, and paper squares in various colors. Scissors are optional.
Let’s get started with Ocean Sort!
In this activity, the felt sea creatures are spread out on the ocean mat, children grab the fishing pole, and go fishing! There are three ways to play this game. In the first game, you pull a card and find the color or creature that matches the card. In the second game, you sort the creatures in piles of big creatures and small creatures. In a more advanced version of the game, you pull one color card and one creature card and find all the creatures that match both cards.
My son was excited to engage in this activity! As he spread the creatures on the ocean floor, he exclaimed “green turtle”, “orange fish”, and “purple star”!
My older daughter demonstrated how the hold the fishing pole and go fishing. My son quickly grasped the concept and eagerly started fishing for the various sea creatures.
I introduced the cards and my son was able to identify the sea creatures by color, sort the big creatures from the small creatures and identify a matching creature with two identifiers (ex. small turtle). He found matching with three identifiers (ex. big orange fish) a little more difficult.
In this activity, children get to create a colorful stained-glass turtle and fish. The back of the fish and turtle frames contain a sticky sheet to place the color squares and create cute creatures to play with or put on display.
My son initially chose the turtle frame but quickly decided on the fish instead. My daughter was happy to decorate the other creature.
We sorted the paper squares by color and quickly went to work decorating the sea creatures. While my daughter meticulously placed each square in the perfect spot, my son frantically grabbed the paper squares and pasted them on the fish frame.
The results of both methods were super cute! My son enjoyed pretend play with the colorful sea creatures afterward.
Tadpole Crate includes a board book every month that goes along with the theme of the box. In “Olive’s Search for Shells”, Olive the frog sets out to help a crab named Hugo find the perfect fitting shell.
My son got really excited about this story! He was able to identify the shell that was too big and the one that was too small. He hasn't yet grasped the concept of dull and shiny although he thought the shiny shell was "very pretty mommy"!
Verdict: This Tadpole Crate by KiwiCo was a lot of fun! Both the Ocean Sort and Sea Creature games were developmentally appropriate for my 2-year-old son. The Ocean Sort activity was his favorite by fair and he’s asked to play the game multiple times since first opening this month’s box. The Sea Creatures activity was fun and cute but my son quickly lost interest once we ran out of paper squares. It would awesome if there were a way to complete this activity multiple times with varying patterns and color selections.
Like other Tadpole Crates, we identified skills that my son has mastered (like matching and sorting) and other skills that he can continue to develop (like identifying). This is one of the things I love best about these crates – they grow with your child! Similar to other KiwiCo boxes, I found the materials in the Tadpole Crate to be high quality and sturdy. The project instructions were clear, age-appropriate and easy to follow. Best of all, my son had fun while learning and developing new skills. He really enjoyed the Ocean Sort activity and since the items are durable and reusable, we can continue having fun even after the projects are complete. The cost of this box is only $19.95 and I think it's well worth the price for enriching, creative and convenient activities for kids.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? From KiwiCo:
Crates are assigned each month based on availability and your crate history – not all subscribers receive the same theme each month.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 40% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.
Check out all of our KiwiCo reviews and the best subscription boxes for toddlers!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
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