Doodle Crate, by KiwiCo, is a subscription box targeted to older children aged 9-16 that delivers a monthly art project. They describe themselves as a “studio for hands-on creativity delivered every month" and they're one of our favorite art boxes for kids!
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 box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Doodle Crate
The Subscription Box: Doodle Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month. Save with longer subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 50% off your first box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: Instructions and supplies for children aged 9-16 to create one new art project each month.
Ships to: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95 per month, worldwide from $4.95-$6.95.
Doodle Crate Watercolor Calendar Review December 2019
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Our project this month is to make our own Watercolor Calendar. As with every box from KiwiCo, this box is well organized and the directions are clear and easy to follow. They break it down into sections with detailed information about each step and I love that they allow for a little bit of creativity within the project while still keeping it structured. Our booklet features a ton of different techniques and inspiration for us to use for our project. They also provided information about color mixing, all of which was very helpful and educational.
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They provided two different size brushes for us to use and a pack of watercolor paper.
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They also provided a set of 12 watercolors with a plastic lid that can double as a palette for us to mix our colors on.
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They provided these blank calendar sheets that feature the days of the week and the month, but with blank spaces that we can number on our own so that the calendar can be used for any year. They also provided a nice fine point pen for us to use.
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We got all set up to paint and grabbed a few pieces of scrap paper from home. Since they provided several techniques for us, we decided to test a few different ones out. We tried wet on wet, some flat washes, and glazing.
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The favorite technique, of course, was the straw painting! They provided a straw so that we could blow our paint across the page.
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This was a great technique for my son whose painting skills are not quite as developed yet.
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My daughter loved this one, too!
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Now it was time to work on our calendar pages. If my kids were a little older, we probably would have planned them out first, but instead, we just got to work after a little bit of discussion about what types of paintings we could do for each month. My daughter opted to draw her May flowers out in pen first and then paint.
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My son chose to use the straw and make some raindrops for our April page.
I grabbed a thumbtack and tested out the sgraffito method which involved scratching an image into the surface before painting. I thought it turned out pretty well!
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Now that we have a few of our watercolor pages completed, it was time to assemble our frame. They provided this nice wooden frame with a larger area at the top for our painting and a smaller area at the bottom for our calendar page.
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They provided these elastic strings which I was able to add by following the numbered holes and going in order to pull the elastic through.
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We kept our pages in stacks then slid them underneath of the elastic bands which held them in place while also making it easy to replace them each month as needed.
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To hang our frame, they provided this string which we tied to the holes at the top of our frame.
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Here is what our calendar looks like when it is all put together. This is a painting I did with the gradient style they recommended. So easy—it would make such a nice gift for a grandparent and is also a great way to display your artwork in a useful way!
Verdict: I thought this month's Doodle Crate project was a perfect one for December. I love that the calendar pages are so easily changed and that the frame itself is simple and not too large. While the finished project itself was really cool, what I really loved was how thorough they were in providing examples of various painting techniques and methods. It felt like an art lesson in a box and everything came organized with easy to follow directions. I think it was a pretty solid box for $19.95, although it would have been nice if they had included a few extra calendar pages for us to help our calendar last a bit longer!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? It is possible you might get this crate, but it is not a guarantee. 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 50% off your first box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
Check out all of our Doodle Crate reviews and the best subscription boxes for tweens and teens!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of the Doodle Crate watercolor calendar?
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