Kiwi Crate is a subscription box for kids ages 5-8 from parent company KiwiCo. It arrives every month with all the materials and instructions needed to complete 2-3 crafts centered on a theme, plus additional materials to help educate young learners!
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 KiwiCo’s Kiwi Crate (for ages 5-8), which costs $19.95 per month.
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 Kiwi Crate by KiwiCo
The Subscription Box: Kiwi Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping
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. Projects cover a number of developmental areas through art, science, and imaginative play.
Ships to: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95, and worldwide from $4.95-$6.95
KiwiCo Kiwi Crate "Marble Timer" Review January 2020
1 of 8
Our theme for this month is Marble Timer and we received this booklet which contains the directions for our activities. This includes detailed, colored illustrations and clear instructions that are easy to follow. They broke down our project into various sections that simplified the process for us. On the back of the booklet, they include their social media links and a sticker for this month’s project.
This is the little sticker chart that we received in our first Kiwi Crate along with our welcome note. We are running out of room on our Adventure Map!
1 of 8
Each month you also get a Kiwi Explore! magazine with a letter from Steve the Kiwi and a little comic to go along with the theme starring some cute characters. This month they learn about how time can affect the dye they are using. There were also some more great activities for further engagement in the subject of time!
Project 1: Marble Timer
1 of 3
After reading our comic, we got started with our marble timer. First, Liv had to add one of these little gray pins to the hole in our circular piece.
1 of 3
Then she used a brad to attach it to this long wooden piece.
1 of 4
She then added this shorter wooden piece to the other end using another gray pin and brad.
1 of 2
Now it was time to connect this piece to our board which was a thick piece of foam.
1 of 6
She used a mix of nuts, bolts, and spacers to add each piece to the appropriate hole on the board.
1 of 5
More spacers and bolts to secure them from the back. I simply read her the directions and she was able to do this independently for the most part!
1 of 2
Then she added these two pieces to the slots in the side so that our board could stand on its own.
1 of 5
Then it was time to place the shelves on the board. These simply matched up with the white lines on our board and were very easy to install by just pushing the tab into the slots. Some of them needed to be slanted to allow our marbles to move through the board and the white line would show the direction for them. I love that they are removable and can be moved around so that she can play with it and figure out how to place the pieces to get her marbles to flow through for an added challenge.
1 of 2
She slid this little piece in at the bottom to form a barrier to keep our marbles from rolling away after going through our timer. Then our timer was ready to test out!
1 of 3
They provided eight black marbles for us. She lined up seven of them on the top shelf and then added one to the shelf below it to get it running.
Here you can see it in action! We did have to tweak it a bit to get it running smoothly - just tightening up bolts and repositioning that top circle piece. With this complete, it was time to start the second project!
Part 2: Dip Dye Art
1 of 3
The next project was to complete some dip dye art. They provided several wooden shapes and three little bottles of liquid watercolor in red, yellow, and blue.
1 of 4
Liv squirted each color into the cups that they provided. Then I added the amount of water they specified in our instructions.
1 of 3
We attached a clip to one of our shapes and then held that as we dipped our wooden shape into the dye.
1 of 2
I went ahead and started her marble timer for her so she would know how long to hold each piece in for. I love that we got to use our timer right away and for something so fun! I also love that it goes along with what our little comic story was about.
1 of 3
When the timer was done, we moved the clip to a different area of the wooden shape and then dipped the other side in a different color. I set the timer for her each time so that she could concentrate. They gave a lot of helpful tips and ideas in the book for how to do our dip dye, too.
1 of 3
She took her time going through each color and once she was finished, we set them on a paper plate to dry. She really enjoyed this part and thanks to the little clips, it was mess-free!
1 of 3
Once they were dry, we used the circle sticker to secure the star inside the circle shape. Then I tied on the string to each one.
1 of 2
They turned out so pretty! If we had wanted darker colors, we could have gone back to the dye after waiting for about 10 minutes, but she was happy with the way they turned out!
Verdict: This month's Kiwi Crate projects were great for my 5-year-old daughter! She loved building and using the marble timer and it was a great way to introduce the idea of time to her in a way that was so easy for her to comprehend. It is also nice that she could customize it by moving the shelves around and seeing how it changed the timer. It thought it was great that they provided a fun and creative art activity (which was also very simple and easy to do) that allowed her to use her marble timer appropriately. This was a great box for $19.95 (plus free shipping)!
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.
Check out all of our Kiwi Crate reviews and more boxes for ages 5-8 in the Kids Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of Kiwi Crate?
