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 Atlas Crate will deliver materials and instructions to provide hands-on experiences to help kids develop their sense of cultural awareness.
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups:
- Panda Crate for 0-24-month-olds,
- Koala Crate for 2-4-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,
- Eureka Crate and Maker Crate for ages 14 and up.
There really is something for every age with this company!
This review is of the $19.95/month Atlas Crate box, for 6-11-year-olds.
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 Atlas Crate
The Subscription Box: Atlas Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.
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: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95 per month, and worldwide from $4.95-$6.95
Atlas Crate November 2019 "Russia" Review
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The country we explored this month was Russia and we received this envelope full of exciting 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! On the bottom of the envelope, there is a list of what is included in our crate and a fun Atlas Quest to complete using our newfound knowledge after exploring this month's country.
My son enjoyed learning how to say hello in Russian! I think he did a pretty good job, although his accent actually got worse as he attempted to roll his Rs! Haha.
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In our first box, which was based on the world, we received an Adventure Book that contained cards for each of the continents and we are able to add to it each month as we receive cards for each of the new countries. They also provide a sticker for us to add to it as well which is a fun way to track our travels! Everything in this box is incredibly organized and nicely packaged making it easy to locate it all.
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The cards for our adventure book are bright, vibrant, and full of tons of information about Russia on either side. I always enjoy the fun facts page and my son was especially interested in the page on Siberian tigers!
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While most of the pages contain information for us to read, there are always a few "do" pages that provide instructions on activities related to the country. This month they provided a recipe for Pryaniki which are honey spice cookies and a page full of some ballet tips for us complete with illustrations.
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We had a lot of fun following the instructions for the ballet moves!
Activity #1: Gorodki
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Our first activity was to play a miniature version of a popular game called Gorodki. They included instructions and some fun facts about how the real game is played.
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First up, we had to measure out an 8" square and mark it using the tape they provided. This is our playing field.
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They also gave us six double-sided cards with different pin positions on it for us to use for setup. My son chose a card for us to test out for our first round.
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Then, my daughter set up the smaller pins inside the square in the formation illustrated on the chosen card. This time it was an arrow shape.
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Then it was time to throw the larger pin at the smaller pins we set up to try and knock them all out. They recommended doing this against a wall so your large pin doesn't go flying, but we simply used our box as a backdrop and it worked well for us. The goal is to knock out all of the pins in the fewest throws possible.
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My son had a turn setting up the field for us next. He had a tough time knocking out the pins, but I think if we move our game from the table to the floor, we will probably have better luck! The kids still enjoyed this one and it was simple enough that we can try this one any time for a little entertainment!
Activity #2: St. Basil's Cathedral Storage Box
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Our next project was to make our own St. Basil's Cathedral in the form of a storage box. They provided a bit of information on the Cathedral and those beautiful onion domes for us.
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They provided several of these flower shapes for us to color in which would become our onion domes.
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They also provided three color-changing markers for us! You simply color in the area and use the white marker to change the color. The blue goes to light blue, the green to yellow, and the purple to pink. The kids and I loved these!
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This became a multiple day project for us because the coloring was so time-intensive!
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The result was fun and colorful! Once colored, we separated them by size before beginning the assembly of our cathedral.
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They provided several different sized towers that arrived flat but simply needed to be opened and then folded a bit on their creases to shape them.
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Then we added some small foam stickers to the marked spots on the triangular dome we received and placed it on top of our largest tower.
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We then used these lollipop sticks and small rubber rings to put our onion domes together. We inserted the stick into the center of our flower shape and then pulled each "petal" over it and slid the hole over the stick. Then we secured the domes on either end of the stick with the rubber rings.
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I started with help, but ended up finishing these by myself when my daughter lost interest because she deemed it "too hard." It was definitely not above her skill level, but like a typical 5-year-old, she just gave up because it was a tedious task. Oh well. She did come back to help though!
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Once the domes were ready, we added small foam stickers to the two arms at the top of the towers and then stuck our domes on top adhering them to the stickers. Another tedious task, but this went much more quickly since I had some helpers again!
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Now it was time to stick the towers into the lid of the box. The lid was marked with different colors and shapes so we knew exactly which tower went where. I love that they always think of little details like this to make projects run so much more smoothly!
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We folded the tabs under after inserting each tower and secured it with a red circle sticker. Then we stuck our last dome, the tiniest one, into the top of our triangular tower.
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To put the base of our box together, I just curved this long piece at the creases and stuck the tabs through the slits around the bottom of it.
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We secured this with another piece of tape on the outside and one on the inside of the box.
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We placed the lid on the box and then used the last set of stickers, which were more flexible, to secure it to the base so that it could open and close and stay attached. The only issue we had with this project was that the red circle stickers were not very sticky. This was easily solved by just using a few pieces of clear packing tape over the top of them, though!
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Here is our finished box; I think it looks pretty cool! I love that we actually created art that is functional, too, and that we got to put our own creative spin on it through our dome designs.
Verdict: This month's Atlas Crate box was a good mix of fun and creativity! The kids enjoyed learning about Siberian tigers and ballet and playing the game of Gorodki. We loved being able to decorate those onion dome pieces with the fun color-changing markers and it made such a great functional piece of artwork. The directions were so clear and easy to follow, as per usual, and I love how well thought out their designs are! We had a lot of fun discovering Russia in this $19.95 (with free shipping) box!
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.
Check out all of our KiwiCo reviews and the best subscription boxes for kids!
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