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.
FYI! This box is featured in our Returning to Learning back-to-school guide. Take a look at our subscription recommendations to see how they can help make your life easier during this unique school year.
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 October 2020 "Colombia" Review
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This month we are traveling to Colombia and this airmail envelope is full of information for us. 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. The kids and I were especially excited to see a box based on Colombia because my husband and I have a good friend who married the sweetest girl from Colombia and we were happy to learn more about her culture. My husband and I were able to experience some of this culture through their wedding last year!
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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 information about Colombia.
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Batman and Supergirl loved learning about the parrots and the mud volcano!
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They always include some "do" pages and this month we have a recipe for Arepas, which is actually something our friends served at their wedding. I'll have to see how this recipe compares! They also gave some instructions for making our own maracas which will be a great rainy day activity one day.
Activity #1: Mochila Bag
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The first activity in this box was to make a mochila bag. When we first met our friend, Heidi, she was actually carrying a bag that seemed very similar in style to a mochila bag and she told me she had made it herself. I think it's so cool that we got to make our own, too! I also thought it felt like a great aspect of the culture to highlight.
Part A: Paint the Bag
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They provided this cute blue bag, paint, and a brush for our first step which was to paint the strap of the bag.
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I set my daughter up with the paint and some water and we placed our Atlas Crate box inside the bag to provide a surface to paint on.
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She didn't want to wait until the next day for it to dry so we used a hairdryer to speed up the process. Then I flipped the bag inside out for her and she was able to paint the inside of the strap.
Part B: Make the Tassels
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The next day we got to work making our tassels for the bag. They provided this particle board tassel-making piece (pictured with the next projects, oops!) and we used the foam semicircle to hold down one end of the drawstring and wrapped the rest around the other side of the tassel maker.
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We slid two rubberbands onto the unit and then my daughter began to wind the yarn around the center. She decided to do the mixed color tassels and use one length of yellow yarn and one length of orange.
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When she ran out of yarn we slipped the rubber bands back down around the strings and then cut the bottom of the strings. This part was very tricky and we both had to work on our technique!
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Then we slipped the tassel off the unit and secured the drawstring around it. Now it was time for my daughter to weave the drawstring through the holes in the bag.
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With that completed, now it was time to make the second tassel. This time we used the end of the drawstring that was sticking out of the bag so that it was already attached to our bag when we were finished.
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We secured the second tassel and then our bag was complete! So cute and colorful!
She loves her new little bag!
Activity #2: Tejo
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The next activity in our box was to make a Tejo game.
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While my daughter worked on her bag, Batman and I got started on the game. First, we assembled the two game pieces which were pieces of adhesive velcro that we placed on and wrapped around a small foam disc.
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Then we added some foam U shapes to our wooden pieces and began to fit them together as the directions showed to form our game board.
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We added the gold circle sticker and the tiny triangles (mecha) to the center of our felt piece and then stuck that onto the base of our game by slipping the tabs in between the wooden notches.
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Lastly, we added some foam U shapes to our backboard before sliding it onto the base.
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Here is our finished board with our game pieces secure on the felt. The object is to throw the velcro game piece and get it on the board. You get a different amount of points based on where it lands, 1 point on the board, and up to 9 points if your piece is touching both the gold ring and one of the mechas (triangles). The first person to get to 21 is the winner.
My son and I had some fun tossing the pieces and seeing who could score the most points! Simple fun!
He did decide that he wanted to paint the back of the backboard like they suggested, so he got to get a little creative, too!
Verdict: This month's Atlas Crate box explored a country that we were excited to learn more about. We loved learning about Colombia, especially since my kids are so fond of our friend who is from there! I think it included aspects of Colombian culture that felt relevant and allowed the kids to be creative and have some fun. We can't wait to share this box with our friend and see what she thinks and also find out what else she can tell us about her country! I love that this box is so well organized and educational and that there are always two different activities which makes it a great box for my kids to do together. I'm sure this won't be the case for everyone, but we have a lot of fun with it!
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 more of our Atlas Crate reviews, all of our KiwiCo reviews, and the best subscription boxes for kids!
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