Atlas Crate is one of the best subscription boxes 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.
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 "The Philippines" Review
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This airmail envelope contains several informative cards and our passport sticker to add to our Adventure Book.
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In our first box, 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.
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The cards for our adventure book are bright, vibrant, and full of information about The Philippines.
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My son is always interested in which animals the country is home to so he scours the cards for animals first thing!
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They always include some "do" pages and this month we have a recipe for Champorado, a chocolate sticky rice, and some instructions for dancing the Tinikling.
Activity #1: Tubbataha Reef
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I knew that my son would be super excited to make his own reef complete with some sea creatures! This instructions sheet provided clear and easy-to-follow instructions along with some fun facts about the reef.
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They provided a base for our reef, some foam gears, lots of foam adhesive pieces, two metal pins, some plastic tubes, pipe cleaners, and some tissue paper pieces.
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First, it was just a matter of attaching the gears to the base and then we slipped the taller tube over top using the adhesive stickers on the tabs to hold it in place. Then we added the shorter tube to the reef floor using more adhesive foam.
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Next, we had the fun task of folding the pipe cleaners into coral shapes and putting them into the holes on the reef floor. Then we began adding some slits to the tissue paper and rolled the bottoms up so that they would fit into the holes too and look like seaweed or seagrasses.
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They provided a sea turtle, a shark, and a manta ray for us to add to the taller tube.
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Here is a look at our finished reef!
To operate it, we just use the small wooden stick on the smaller gear to turn it, and then our reef spins around and it looks like the animals are going for a swim in a circle! My son loves it and has already brought it down to what we call his "animal room" where he keeps all of his toy creatures!
Activity #2: Parol
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Our next project was to make a Parol, a traditional ornament. While the first project was perfect for my son (my daughter also would have liked it), this second one seemed like something my daughter would have some fun with!
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For this project, they provided some tissue paper, colorful transparent pieces for the star's arms, string, wooden sticks, and some pipe cleaners.
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The first part was just preparing our tassels. We folded our larger piece of tissue paper and made some cutout designs on it and then we added the yellow tassel pieces to a pipe cleaner and threaded the whole thing through the center of our blue tissue paper.
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Next, she added the little foam donuts to all of the holes on the two yellow center pieces. One side also received little wooden sticks in the center of the donuts. Then it was just a matter of folding the start points at the creases and adding them to the wooden pegs.
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Then we added the other yellow piece over the top of the pegs to hold the star points down. We added the tassels to the bottom holes and she threaded an elastic string through the top hole and our Parol was complete!
It looks so pretty with the light shining through!
Verdict: This month's Atlas Crate box was another fun way to explore a new country! My son loved learning about the Tubbataha Reef and making his own version of a reef complete with moving sea creatures, while my daughter's Parol turned out so pretty! KiwiCo managed to find engaging crafts and made them easy to do thanks to their forethought in planning and the detailed instructions. We learned a lot about The Philippines and had fun doing it! These boxes are such a great way to explore the world from the comfort of your home each month!
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, and the best subscription boxes for kids!
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