Koala 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:
- 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 a month Koala Crate, for Pre-K kids ages 2-4.
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 Koala Crate from KiwiCo
The Subscription Box: KiwiCo Koala Crate
The Cost: $19.95 a month + free shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.
The Products: 2-3 fun DIY projects for you to do with your preschooler!
Ships to: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95 per month, worldwide from $4.95-$6.95.
Koala Crate "Rainforest" Review
My kids get so excited to see the yellow Koala Crate box arrive in our mailbox each month! While the recommended ages for this particular box are 2-4, my 7-year-old and 4-year-old make the cutest team in reading and completing this box all by themselves. It's so rewarding to sit back and watch them work on their own!
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This month’s theme was "Rainforest" and my little men were able to create a butterfly puppet, a musical rainstick, and a balancing tree game. Charlie's dream is to go to the rainforest one day, so this was a huge hit with him! And because we actually raise monarch butterflies in the summer, Hank was pumped to create our very own monarch puppet! This month's theme and crafts = big success! Check out how easy these directions are to follow. Not only do they give you easy to understand instructions, but they also give you pictures to follow as well! Hank was able to read this and explain everything to Charlie.
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Also included in this box is a copy of the Koala Crate "Imagine!" magazine. This magazine is based on the box's theme and includes real photos, a fun story, a finding game, informational literature, a craft, and a library list of books about the rainforest! All of the info that is included in this magazine is magnificent. My kids learned facts they didn't know before opening this box and had a great time working on it with each other.
Aren't they sweet? I love how easy the stories are to read, and how cute the characters are!
Butterfly Puppet
This month we received all of the needed supplies to create an adorable butterfly puppet.
The first step in creating this puppet was to adhere the felt stickers onto the butterfly wings.
Once the wings were completed, Hank flipped the butterfly over and added the felt markings to the front of the puppet.
This project was super quick but it was really fun because the kids were able to make any design they wanted on the wings. As I said above, because we raise monarch butterflies, we were really excited to see this project in this month's box, and it got us excited for spring to come! Both boys had a great time using the butterfly to perform multiple puppet shows for me and my husband!
Musical Rainstick
The next activity was to create a musical rainstick.
The first step in creating this craft was to put a cap on one end of the tube.
Next, Charlie folded the tabs of the insert piece. This was a little tricky for him, so Hank came to the rescue.
Once the tabs were folded out, he inserted it into the tube.
The most fun part of this project was to add the wooden beads! Charlie wasn't sure what this was going to turn out to be, and was very excited!
The last step was to add the cap and stickers. Everything went very smoothly, but Charlie was a little concerned because the stickers didn't come off of the sheet as nicely as he would have liked. That was all forgotten though as soon as he shook his rainstick and heard the calming sound of the beads falling like raindrops!
Balancing Tree Game
The last activity was the most time consuming, but a lot of fun. It used the musical rainstick we created above and turned into a really fun game!
First, we had to punch out and fold up the included tree topper.
Here Charlie is embellishing his tree topper with the included leaf stickers. He had a great time decorating this piece to his liking! He felt like a real artist!
Here is his completed tree topper! He was super proud!
Once the tree topper was complete, we took the created musical rainstick and added the soft velcro dot.
Once the soft dot was adhered, we went ahead and added the scratchy dot to the tree topper.
Then like magic, they stuck together to form a tree!
The best part of this game was to open up the big package of multi-sized pom-poms!
It was then time to play the game! Using the included tweezers, you are to place the pom-poms onto the tree branches until the pom-poms fall down or the tree falls over.
This was great practice for Charlie who is working on his fine motor skills, and while it was easy for Hank, he had a bit of a harder time using his left hand!
Look at how full the tree got! And then TIMBER... it fell over.
I love how they included a cute cardboard pouch box to keep all of our "tree leaves" safe and in one spot! It was a fun game, and the kids had a lot of fun with it!
Verdict: This Koala Crate was really fun! Our family loves crafts, and because this is geared to a younger age group, it was really nice to hand the reins over to my kids and let them figure these activities out on their own while I cooked dinner and watched from afar. It was amazing to see the teamwork come through and how much fun they had and how proud they were to create these projects all on their own. I was really proud to watch them build these skills, especially the reading aloud! I can't wait to see what theme we receive next month!
All of the included projects came with high-quality materials, were very well-curated, and were educational as well as fun. My kids learned about teamwork and facts about the rainforest, all while having fun. I feel this is extremely important and worth the $19.95!
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 toddlers!
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