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 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 Tadpole Crate for kids ages 0-36 months.
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 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: U.S. for free, Worldwide for $6.95 to $7.95. Find your country here.
Tadpole Crate "Ride With Me” May 2019 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 3rd-grader, was happy to assist her little brother with the projects.
This month’s theme is “Ride With Me” where kids learn about safety and following directions through driving-focused pretend play projects that are fun and age-appropriate.
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 activities to try at home. These DIY activities sometimes require 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: Steering Wheel and Follow The Signals. Steering Wheel and Follow The Signals build developmental skills including hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, and pretend and independent play. Included are detailed instructions and everything needed for both projects.
Here are the materials for the Steering Wheel project. It includes a steering wheel set and keys.
Here are the materials for the Follow The Signals Game. It includes a signal box, a black disk, paper inserts and the steering wheel from the first activity. With these materials, you can play two types of games: Stop and Go Games and Gross Motor Games.
Let’s get started with Steering Wheel!
In this activity, kids get to pretend to drive a car around the neighborhood. Stops include places like the school and the library. Kids can pretend to start the car, find their destination, turn up the AC, click the blinkers and shift gears.
There isn’t any setup required for this activity. To engage my son, I asked him to choose the key he liked best to start the engine. I asked him to drive us to the library and other locations on the map.
I also encouraged him to play with the AC (Do you want it hot or cold?), the blinkers (Do you want to go left or right?), and the gears (Move to number 4.).
Let’s move on to the Follow The Signals Game!
In this activity, children get to build a signal box and practice following directions. There is are two types of games: Stop and Go and Gross Motor.
To set up the game, you fold the paper stop and go card and insert it inside the box with the black disk on top. Turn the box to move the disk to reveal ‘stop' or ‘go'. While my son pretended to drive the car, I flashed the stop and go signals and he would pretend to stop or go following the signal.
We also played the ‘jump’ and ‘spin’ card to practice gross motor skills. There are blank cards to create your own custom signal box. My daughter decided on ‘kiss' and ‘hug' and my son wanted ‘run' and ‘jump' in baby scribble.
Tadpole Crate includes a board book every month that goes along with the theme of the box. In “Olive Learns to Stop,” Olive the frog gets to play with all types of vehicles and we get to help her learn how to be safe and to stop.
My son was way more interested in pointing out the types of vehicles Olive was able to drive in the book. He wasn't too interested in helping Olive stop and be safe. He does recognize the stop sign and would say ‘Red means stop!" each time he encountered the stop sign. It was very cute!
Verdict: This Tadpole Crate by KiwiCo was a lot of fun! The Steering Wheel game was fun! However, my son quickly got bored with it and was ready to move on to the next game when I first introduced this box. Now he's been playing with the steering wheel non-stop! Follow The Signals was fun too! We had the most fun playing "red light (stop) and green light (go)." Both activities were developmentally appropriate for my 2-year-old. But, now that he's closer to three, I found that he has already mastered all the developmental skills reinforced with these activities. It's definitely time to move up to the next box!
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 reinforcing learned skills. He really enjoyed the steering wheel activity and since the game is durable and reusable, he continues to have 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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