MEL Kids is a subscription box for children ages 5-10 that delivers a hands-on science experiment to your door each month along with an AR (augmented reality)-powered lesson to accompany it which is accessible from their app.
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 MEL Kids
The Subscription Box: MEL Kids
The Cost: $24.90 per month
The Products: A science-themed project and an AR lesson to go along with it, accessible through the app.
Ships to: The U.S. for free (shipping may open up to other areas in the future)
MEL Kids "Cave Sound" Review December 2019
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On the back of the sleeve for our box was a contents list and a quick description of our product. Underneath was a plain cardboard box that contained all of our items with a nice little blueprint on the inside flap.
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Mystery Planet Map
In your first box, you will receive this Mystery Planet Map. It is a nice large, colorful map on some heavier stock paper and it is very detailed and fun! There are transparent rectangles located throughout the map which provide a spot for us to add stickers as we complete different projects each month.
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Inside our box was this booklet which contained all of the information we needed. The first page contained a list of the contents along with pictures. The next few pages began our comic story which would lead us to our project. This is such a creative way to get kids engaged in their learning!
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The directions feature large colorful illustrations and numbered steps making it easy for my 5-year-old to follow along. The pieces also come neatly organized inside little boxes.
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She emptied our first box and began sorting through the pieces until she found what she needed.
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First, she inserted the little plastic pin into the center of the wheel and attached it to one of the dragon pieces.
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Then she had to attach the handle and secure it with the small cog and a rubber O-ring. When she turned the handle, the wheel would spin.
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Next, she slid the base piece into place and then added the other dragon piece to the opposite side.
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She slid these little feet into the slots on the front of the dragon.
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Next, she prepared these three T-shaped pieces by adding a rubber band to each one, sliding it over the top, and making sure the bottom was tucked into the little notch on the side of the T.
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She then added all three Ts to a dowel and slid it into the slots at the front of the dragon.
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She flipped the T pieces over to the back and then added a rubber band to the front to hold the dowel in place.
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With this section done, it was time to return to our comic which soon instructed us to open the second box in our kit.
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She emptied the box and found the piece that she needed to slide into the top of our dragon.
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Then she connected the rubber bands from our T shapes to the tabs on this top piece.
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Then she slid on the handle which had the horns of our dragon.
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Then she added our metal keys to the front of the dragon putting them in order from shortest to longest.
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She stretched a rubber band around the front to hold everything in place.
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Our dragon music box was almost ready!
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We just had to prepare our music! She punched out the little pieces from this white sheet which is like really thin cardstock, and then folded them in half and began inserting them into the holes on the wooden board.
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The directions showed us what order to put them in and then it was time to add it to our machine and play it through! The notches lined up with our wheel and as she turned the handle, it fed the wooden sheet through and the T shapes swung and hit our metal keys.
Here she is testing out our music box for the first time. It is really cool, but I do wish that maybe they had given us a recognizable tune to play and also that the thick paper pieces were made of flexible plastic instead so they would hold up a little better. We already have some pieces that are getting bent out of shape!
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With this project completed, it was time to add our sticker to our map! She had some fun searching for where it belonged.
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We read a little bit about the science of sound and then my daughter checked out a few of the extra activities in the book.
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Then it was time to check out the AR (augmented reality) portion of our project by scanning this little card with our MEL Kids app.
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My daughter really enjoys this portion of the projects and I love that she can go through it by herself. There is a lot of interactive educational information along with visuals and moving parts that show how our music box and sound work. It is such a great extension to our project and a great way to engage kids further in the learning process. They also get a nice congratulations message when they finish the lesson!
Verdict: MEL Kids is such a unique approach to learning! I love that we start with a story that leads us to our "why" for the project, then we get to do a hands-on task and create something, and even better, my daughter is able to do this almost completely independently since it is just following along with the pictures. Every once in awhile I might remind her to pay attention to the direction of her pieces or something, but I know that the more she does these, she will quickly get the hang of it and probably won't need me at all for them! After creating the project, the lesson is even further enhanced by the incredibly engaging AR feature. The kits are well organized, the pieces are quality (although, I could have done with better music tab pieces), and my daughter enjoys them, so I think it's a great value for this $24.90 box!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, this box is still available. From MEL Kids:
"Your first package will arrive within 2 weeks of registration. Subsequent monthly packages will be delivered within 2 weeks of each monthly charge."
Check out our other MEL Kids reviews and our list of the best subscription boxes for kids, as recommended by MSA readers!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add MEL Kids to your subscription list or wishlist!
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