Doodle Crate, by KiwiCo, is a subscription box targeted to older children, aged 9-16 that delivers a monthly art project. They describe themselves as a “studio for hands-on creativity delivered every month" and they're one of our favorite art boxes for kids!
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 box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Doodle Crate
The Subscription Box: Doodle Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month. Save with longer subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 50% off your first box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: Instructions and supplies for children aged 9-16 to create one new art project each month.
Ships to: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95 per month, worldwide from $4.95-$6.95.
Doodle Crate Macrame Gear Review February 2021
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Our project this month is to make some gear using a macrame method. This booklet includes instructions for two different types of knots we can try along with the directions for assembling the various pieces for our projects. The illustrations are large and detailed which is so helpful with a project like this.
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The main component of this project was the wooden macrame holder. They included these wooden pieces for us to fit together, some foam stickers, and plastic nuts and bolts.
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They also provided four different colors of string (2 of each color), a small bottle of liquid glue, and a paper tape measurer.
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The pieces for making our gear came package up neatly. There was a plastic needle, a keyring and carabiner for our keychain, and some plastic pieces along with a digital watch face for us to make our watch.
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My daughter got to work assembling the wooden macrame holder. She was able to complete this independently thanks to the detailed directions.
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Our holder has a sliding piece that allows for different sized projects and it even has measurements listed so that we can measure the length as we go.
Project 1: Macrame Keyring
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Now we were ready to start on our keychain. She picked two colors and tied them onto the end of the carabiner. Then she adjusted the length on the macrame holder and slipped the end of the carabiner over the little square on one side.
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The keyring got hooked to the other side and the center strings got tied around the base of the holder. That left two strings to work with to form our knots. This was pretty simple for her to do on her own with me guiding her.
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Once we got to a certain point, we stopped and added some glue. Then we tied about 3 more knots before adding a lot of glue to the end and setting our keyring aside to dry.
Once it was dry we simply cut off the ends of the strings and added a dab of glue to the end of each cut string to ensure it didn't fray. This was so simple and turned out great!
Project 2: Macrame Watch
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To get started on the watch, we measured my daughter's wrist and then added an inch to the measurement and set the holder at half of that. Making the watch was a little bit more involved, and my daughter sort of lost interest after selecting her colors, so I took it upon myself to make the watch for her using the square knot method which was just a tad more difficult. She could easily have completed this on her own with a little bit of guidance from me though.
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They provided two sets of watch buckles for us. One set got bolted to the hole in our macrame holder while the other one we added our string to. Then we hooked the two separate buckle ends together and I used the needle to add the strings through the three holes of our watch case. Then I stretched the string out and tucked that under the opposite end and I tied our middle strings up again.
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The square knot was just a little bit harder, with an extra step to remember, but I was able to get it done pretty quickly. Then I did the same glue method as before. This was the first half of our watch. Then I repeated the same steps as before to knot the other half of the watch band. Once both sides were knotted and glued, I removed them and set them aside to dry.
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Once it was dry, I cut off the strings like with the keyring and the watch was ready.
Here it is on her wrist. We made it just a bit bigger, but we both thought it turned out pretty cool! The watch was really simple to set, too, although it does need to be removed from the case in order to do that. But luckily, that is easy enough!
Verdict: I love that we learned a new skill that we can try any time from this month's Doodle Crate, and it will be super easy since we have our own macrame holder now. It's definitely not a necessity, but it's a convenient way to gain some confidence in this new skill of ours. I also liked that there were two projects of varying degrees of difficulty. My daughter was able to complete the keyring fairly easily on her own, while the watch (which she also could have done) was just a bit more involved and probably would have required some assistance from me. At 6, she is a bit younger than the targeted age group here though, so I think that a child a bit older than her would easily be able to complete this independently! Overall, this was a great box that was well organized and they provided a simple way for us to learn macrame. I'm eager to get some more supplies so that we can make even more fun gear together!
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.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 50% off your first box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
Check out all of our Doodle Crate reviews and the best subscription boxes for tweens and teens!
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