ToucanBox is an award-winning subscription service that sends a monthly box of creative activities to children aged 3 to 8 years old. Each box contains everything needed to keep children engaged for hours in an educational and creative way. Boxes include all the materials to complete two unique projects, colorful step-by-step instructions, a STEAM learning inspired magazine and loads of stickers.
Each craft is designed to stimulate children’s creativity and curiosity and to encourage key development skills such as concentration, numeracy, fine and gross motor skills, and problem-solving.
We received this box for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About ToucanBox
The Subscription box: ToucanBox
The Cost: $12.95 per month + $1.95 shipping
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 50% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: a STEAM learning inspired magazine, materials, and instructions to complete unique projects, and lots of stickers!
Ships to: the US (email ToucanBox for international shipping quotes)
ToucanBox April 2019 Review
Our first project is a fun nature bag used to collect objects from the seasonal scavenger hunt cards that are included - we might just laminate these cards so we can do it over and over again!
Here are all of the included supplies that are needed to complete the nature bag: 4 scavenger cards, (spring, summer, fall, and winter) markers, bleeding tissue paper, canvas bag, foil sheet, nature stencils, and a paintbrush. The only item not included is a glass of water! Like my son, Charlie says “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.”
The front of the tri-fold instruction sheet shows an example of what the finished project should look like, and includes a fun little tree ring math worksheet.
Activity #1: Nature Bag
The back of the sheet shows the contents, and the step by step instructions and pictures for completing the bag. They are super easy to follow and well written!
We used the box as the surface protectant for this project. I love how the box unfolds into a flat piece- it makes re-use and clean-up so much easier! You lay down the aluminum foil, and fill your cup with water. Then comes step number 2:
The kids wanted to trim the tissue paper into smaller pieces to get more color variation. Next, you lay the tissue all over the foil sheet, dip the paintbrush into water and dab onto the tissue paper until it is wet.
After the tissue paper is completely wet, you gently lay the bag on top of it. We placed a piece of cardboard in the bag to keep the color from seeping through to the back.
Hank and Charlie were thrilled with their progress! They couldn’t wait all night for the colors to dry, so we used the blow dryer to speed up the drying time.
When the bag was completely dry, we taped the stencil on the bag, and the kids began coloring away. The tiny markers were a little hard to color with, so we used some of our bigger Crayola markers which made the coloring a little faster.
While Hank was waiting for Charlie to finish his stenciling, he worked on the tree ring worksheet. We talked about how tree rings can tell us how old a tree is, and he really enjoyed counting and drawing his own rings!
And here is the finished project! This turned out super cute, and with Spring here the boy’s can’t wait to take their bag outside and fill it with their nature discoveries!
Activity #2: Racing Jellyfish
The next project was the racing jellyfish. This was extra fun because we had to make 2 jellyfish so each kid was able to create their own.
The contents included in this kit: 2 jellyfish templates, thick ribbon, thin ribbon, beads, stickers, sticky back eyes, straws, suction cups, and dot stickers. The only item you need that isn’t included is a pair of scissors. Very easy and convenient!
The front of the instructions included a finished illustration of what the project should look like, a race worksheet, and the finishing instructions.
The back of the instructions includes the content list and steps 1-4 with details and illustrations.
The first step is to decorate the jellyfish. They included fun, colorful dots, and googly eyes to do this easily. My 4 and 6-year-old needed no assistance with this step.
Hank and Charlie were so proud of their hard work!
The neck step is to tape the straws onto the back of the jellyfish. They made it very easy with the enclosed tape stickers!
The next step was a little tricky and needed adult assistance. You have to wrap a sticker around the end of the ribbon to lace it through the straws. Then you add the beads. The only problem I found with this step is that they don’t tell you how much yellow ribbon to use. If we were to do this again I would have used a lot more ribbon.
After this, we cut our blue ribbon into 8 equal pieces and threaded them through each hole in the jellyfish. The picture doesn’t really show to tie a knot, but I didn’t want them to fall out so we went ahead and tied them on.
Now the race is on! We put the suction cup on the window and hung up our jellyfish. You then tug on the yellow strings alternately to make them race to the top. Friction keeps the jellyfish climbing up the ribbon and gravity allows it to slip down when there is no tension on the ribbon. The kids really got a kick out of this - we had many races!
And here are both projects! We spent about an hour in total on these, and had a lot of fun!
Verdict: This was my first time receiving ToucanBox and I must say I am a big fan! We loved the creativity and thought that was put behind these projects, and how all of the necessary supplies were included. It was such a treat to get a box that we were able to open and complete right away. It was perfect for my 4 and 6-year-old, and they really enjoyed working on it as a team.
Since ToucanBox costs $14.90 ($12.95 a month plus $1.95 shipping) the 2 projects cost $7.45 a piece. I think this is a great value because all of the supplies are included, they give educational information, and they have fun worksheets to complete. I also would like to factor in the one hour of quality bonding time I had with my kids completing this kit. This is definitely one of the most reasonably priced kids craft subscriptions I have come across, and one of the most fun!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Possibly. Your box will ship 3-5 days after ordering and will be sent subsequently each month.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 50% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.
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