The Preschool Box is a monthly subscription that sends preschool activities to encourage learning, reading, and creativity in children aged 3-6. Every box contains specific learning objectives that focus on phonics, reading skills, and basic math concepts with activities, crafts, and a book.
A portion of all proceeds for this subscription supports an orphanage for at-risk children in Uganda through Rafiki Africa Ministries.
For more ways to keep your kiddos educationally engaged during these times, check out our Returning to Learning back-to-school guide to see how subscriptions can help make your life easier as you navigate this unique school year.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About The Preschool Box
The Subscription Box: The Preschool Box
The Cost: $32.95 + $5.95 US shipping
The Products: Every box contains specific learning objectives that focus on phonics, reading skills, and basic math concepts and includes 16+ hands-on preschool activities, ready-to-go craft materials, and a book.
Ships to: The US for $5.95 and worldwide at varying rates
The Preschool Box October 2020 Review
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The centerpiece of the box is this parent guide and activity workbook. It has a welcome letter on the inside as well as the curriculum plan for this month. Each Preschool Box has 4 weeks planned out for your child to do, so by the time you finish everything, your next box should be on its way to you.
The first 6 months of this subscription teach your child the letters of the alphabet (letter recognition, sounds, and writing) and numbers; the second 6 months focus on sounding out and reading words. At the end of the subscription, you receive a fun graduation box! This is box #7 for us, so it's the beginning of the last 6 months of the subscription and we're starting letter blending!
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Here's a look inside at the parent guide and workbook pages. Week 1's plan covers the letter sound Th and adding numbers to 10. Week 2 covers the sound Ing and identifying the last letters of words by sound. Week 3 covers the sound Ph and part-part-whole addition. Week 4 covers the Oo and more practicing of identifying ending letter sounds. At the end of the booklet is a reading log to track what books you and your child read each day.
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Every box keeps the paper materials for activities and crafts in a tabbed folder
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Here's a closer look at the worksheets. Kids all learn differently, but my son enjoys working through preschool workbooks so he likes completing these pages. I would say that I have seen the difficulty of the pages "level up" as we've continued this subscription, and I think the tasks they give are helpful. I appreciate that there is variety between worksheet pages so it doesn't feel like you're just repeating the same tasks over and over with each letter or sound.
Here's one of the crafts in this month's box, which involved making a king for the ing sound. The other two crafts were coloring a phone for Ph and coloring a cow for ow. We didn't complete those latter two crafts, because they were mostly coloring and my son didn't seem as interested. And that's okay – one thing this box has helped me realize is that if something doesn't capture my son's attention, and if he's already handling the concept well or would benefit more from just practicing ph words, I really don't need to force him to do a craft just to keep busy.
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These are the activities in our October box. Activities in this box included writing th words on a laminated page with a tooth, and they sent a toothbrush for him to erase the words by "brushing" the teeth. That was really cute! They also included a Ten Frame with addition cards and little foam circles that were yellow on one side and red on the other – this is to help children visualize addition. My son seemed to prefer just counting it out in his head. I've realized he really likes math!
The activity I think was our favorite was pages with different pictures and their words with the last letters missing, and you cut out and adhere the correct last letter. They sent velcro dots with this activity so you can do it over and over! Gideon had a lot of fun with this and I like that I can pull it out for him to practice it over and over.
Also included in every box is a set of flashcards. Because we've moved onto letter blending, the flashcards we got this month had words and pictures that incorporated the sounds he's learning this month which are th, ing, ph, and oo.
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Little Giraffe's Big Idea by Benjamin Richards - Retail value $5.86
Every box includes a book to read together! This month's was about a giraffe who wants to play with other animals and tries to look like them to get them to play with him. None of them accept him at first, but by the end, they see the giraffe is lonely and feel bad and go over to play with him after all.
GoGo Squeez Happy Tummiez Organic Fruit & Veggies on the Go Pouch, 3.2 oz - Estimated value $1.00 (Buy a 24 pack for $24.54)
This month they included a GoGo Squeez pouch! My kids love pouch snacks so this was a nice inclusion for us.
Verdict: We have really enjoyed our subscription to The Preschool Box! I have found it so helpful, having school-at-home work for my 5-year-old simplified and prepped for me. Since getting this box, he and I have been doing things from it together and it's been really fun seeing him work, learn, and play. I've been learning new things about what subjects he likes, what activities he responds to well, and they cover content widely enough to help me see his sticky points that he needs to practice outside of the work in this box. Also, I love that some activities are repeatable so we can build up a sort of library of educational games and activities to reach for later. With so many families planning to home school or virtually school this year, I can see a subscription like this being very helpful for a lot of parents going through this pivot.
It's hard to put a concrete value assessment on this box because of its nature. I can say that it has totally been worth the cost for my family, though. I know I could probably find resources for similar crafts or projects online myself, but I also have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old and I just do not have the time or bandwidth to be able to sit, research, plan, and prepare educational activities or crafts at the moment. Having everything in this box ready to grab and do together (or even to set him up with something to do on his own while I do something else!) with no effort, decision making, or internet hunting on my part has made a huge difference for us. Additionally, I am really happy with how the subscription has increased in skill difficulty in a way that's been right along with my son's skills improving. I've also felt empowered to see where he needs practice and have been able to help him nail those down!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your subscription will start with the first Preschool Box to teach your child from the beginning of The Preschool Box's curriculum.
Check out all of our Preschool Box reviews and the best kids subscription boxes for 2020, recommended by MSA readers like you!
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