Green Kid Crafts is a kids subscription box company that sends you up to six science and art kits each month for $29.95 (with free U.S. shipping).
Green Kid Crafts strives to encourage the growth of the "whole child," which includes fostering a sense of care for our environment. Their process and products seek to have a minimal environmental impact, and the activities in each box aim to help kids engage with nature in creative ways. It's not surprising that Green Kid Crafts was actually founded by an environmental scientist! The thoughtful approach makes this box one of our favorite kids' art subscriptions.
FYI, COVID-19 Update: From Green Kid Crafts:
Thanks to our customer and community support, we have grown! We are excited to have recently shipped out our 1.5 millionth box!
While our production is on track, we are still experiencing some shipping delays as carriers face strain and high volumes due to COVID.
Green Kid Crafts is a small mom-owned, parent-run business committed to providing a high level of service.
Thank you for supporting our small business and our mission to empower the next generation of environmental leaders!
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.
Choose between the Junior Discovery Box (ages 2-4) or the Discovery Box (ages 5-10+), both of which are $29.95/month. Green Kid Crafts also offers a Sibling Discovery Box (ages 2-10+) for $49.95/month, which sends two of each project. All subscriptions include free shipping.
This is a review of the Discovery Box for ages 5-10+, which costs $29.95/month + free shipping.
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 Green Kid Crafts Discovery Box
The Subscription Box: Green Kid Crafts Discovery Box
The Cost: $29.95 per month + free shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.
The Products: Materials and instructions for up to 6 science and art projects aimed at helping children ages 5-10+ get creative and engage with nature.
Ships to: The U.S. for free, to Canada and select countries for a flat rate of $6.50/month
Green Kid Crafts "Candle Science" February 2021 Box Review
Because it's February, and Valentine's Day was just last weekend, it only seems fitting to have a "Candle Science" theme this month for our Green Kid Crafts box. Not only were we surprised to see this daring theme, but super excited too! One of the categories on our local county fair registration list is homemade candles, which is one of the few categories we haven't entered something in, in the past, so this just upped our game to have a chance at "The Most Entries" prize!! Check out to see how this process went for us below.
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Every month we receive a well thought-out, illustrated pamphlet that includes an educational introduction, activity instructions, activities, career info, and book ideas that pair with the monthly theme. (FYI, we found the 2nd title recorded as a read aloud on YouTube so we were able to enjoy the book without owning it!) The back of the pamphlet includes their social media hashtags, along with a blurb about Penny Bauder, who is the founder of Green Kid Crafts.
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Hank was the reader of instructions this month, and found the fact about candle flames being blue at the bottom fascinating. Of course we had to light one of our boughten candles to see this effect before we even began creating our own.
Project 1: Beeswax Candles
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In all honesty, I think initially I was more excited about this theme than the kids were, but as soon as they discovered these beeswax sheets, they were all in. For this activity we received three pure beeswax sheets, a long piece of wick, and three empty tea light containers.
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To create our rolled candles, we first had to decide what size to make. To create a medium sized candle you used the entire sheet, and to create small candles you split the sheet in half. To create tapered candles, you cut the sheet diagonally. Once the sheets were cut to our preferred size, we laid the wick across the long edge of the beeswax, extending past the top. Next it was time to start rolling. The trickiest part of this was to keep the pressure firm to create a tight roll. The kids had to smoosh their candles a bit when they were finished to firm them up a bit, but they turned out really cute, and literally took only seconds to make.
Project 2: Waxed Yarn Bees
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Wikki Stix - Buy a pack of 240 for $15.25
I am familiar with these waxed yarn modeling sticks, as I purchased a package for our road trip to South Dakota a few years back. These bendable/moldable pieces can be cut, manipulated, and bent into words, objects, and sculptures. I found them to be a good car toy, but definitely with a little supervision as heat will melt them (obviously) and sticking them to car windows does leave wax trails! (whoops)
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For activity #2, we received a set of Wikki Stix to make bee sculptures. They challenged us to see how many different types of bees we could make. I split the stix between the kids, and Hank decided to create a 3D bee, and Charlie (who is working on spelling) decided to spell it out. Both equally impressive, and a lot of fun too.
Here we have 2 of our rolled candles burning, and as you can see I set them in mini tea cups.....I didn't realize until I sat down to write this review that they included the tea light cups as candle holders for the tapers.....I actually made more tealights with them, as you will see below.
Project 3: Wax Dyeing
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Our third activity includes all of the necessary supplies to dye our very own wax. We received cups, soy wax flakes, crayons, and stir sticks.
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I didn't get as many photos during this activity as I would have liked, as I was in the throes of unpeeling crayon labels and microwaving, but it was pretty self-explanatory. We poured the soy wax flakes equally into each cup. After removing the paper layer from the crayons, we added a different color into each cup (because we have a mass abundance of broken crayons, we used 2 off brand crayons included with the kit, and 2 Crayola crayons to see if it would have an effect on the finished project). Once we added the crayons to the cups, we microwaved them for about 2 minutes total, checking them every 30 seconds to give them a quick stir. You will see our colors in the next activity when we actually make the candles with the wax!
Project #4: Tea Light Candles
For our last activity, we received the dyed candle wax, empty tea light containers, and 4 wicks.
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Once the melted wax came out of the microwave, the kids couldn't wait to pour their vibrant colors into the tealight containers. Before we could do that though, they added the wicks to the center of the molds. Like I said above, I didn't realize that the 3 extra molds were supposed to be used for the tapers, so I rigged up a wick using what we had left of the rolled candle wicks, and a tiny piece of wikki stix on each side. Turning our set of 4 tealights into a set of 7. As you can see, we poured a layer of wax, let it set up in the refrigerator, and then poured another layer. If you were wondering about the difference in Crayola and off brand crayons, there did seem to be one... We found the Crayola crayons created bolder colors and were less chalky looking, but all of them turned out beautifully. Doesn't our orange tealight just accent my rooster tealight holder so incredibly well?
We can now add "Candle Expert" to our resume! After completing all 4 of our activities, we are now considered experts in the world of candles. Yippee!
Verdict: This month's Green Kid Crafts was a little unexpected, but a ton of fun. Candles aren't necessarily something I associate with science or children, but the curation of this box was really well laid out and was exciting not only for the kids, but for me as well. We learned about different types of candles and the science behind them, along with how candles burn, and 2 different methods for creating candles. This month there was only 4 activities, but I felt that they were substantial activities that really carried the box in the fun and learning department. My only suggestion would be to add a few more tealight molds and wicks, as I had quite a bit of wax left over. I can't wait to see what next month's theme might be!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Here's what Green Kid Crafts says:
The first box of all subscription orders will ship immediately, through the 25th of the month. After the 25th, the initial box will ship with the following month’s mid-month shipment. After the first month, subsequent boxes will ship around the middle of the month.
Check out all of our Green Kid Crafts reviews and the best kid subscription boxes for more kids' activities!
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