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L is home from school sick today (he’s feeling WAY better than yesterday though), so we took advantage of the quiet day we were having and worked on our February 2014 Kiwi Crate!
If you aren’t familiar, Kiwi Crates are designed around fun themes and filled with all of the materials and inspiration for hands-on projects for kids ages 3-7. L is 5 and is getting to the point where he can be more in charge of the project and is able to follow along on the instructions better and better each month.
Kiwi Crate ships via FedEx Smart Post and takes about a week to arrive. We received it last week sometime, but today was the first real chance we had to work on it.
Does Kiwi Crate still send out the monthly sneak peeks? I don’t think I have gotten any lately? Which means I had no clue what the theme would be this month. I have heard that sometimes people who subscribe through one of the deal sites (Plum District, Living Social, etc.) receive older crates, but I have always subscribed through Kiwi Crate directly, so I always get the current one. It seems that Kiwi Crate now sends a variety of crates to subscribers (as many as eight different crates are circulating each month per Kiwi Crate) and it makes no difference on how you signed up for a subscription, so some subscribers will receive Around the World this month, while others will receive a crate sent out in a previous month. I have been a subscriber for awhile now, so I am guessing there aren’t too many crates I haven’t received, so I receive the current one. Thanks for the clarification Rebekah!!!
The February 2014 Kiwi Crate theme is “Around the World” and includes two projects “my world flags” and “my world map”. I am not sure this was their intention, but I found it to be a great tie in with the Games happening this month! L saw lots of flags and heard about lots of different places during the last few weeks, so it was fun to show him some of them on the map!
Project #1 – My World Map:
Project #1 was “my world map” and included landmarks to add to your map so that you could play a game. Whoever can travel around the world the fastest and get four in a row is the winner! This project was low on the messiness scale, medium on the grownup involvement scale and involved discovering, exploring and communicating.
L LOVED this game! We played (he won) and he did awesome finding the landmarks and was super into it. I am guessing that we will be saving this one since this is totally a game we’ll play in the future. I will probably laminate the game boards so they last longer!
Project #2 – My World Flags
The second project this month was “my world flags” and included colorful felt to create a set of flags from around the world. This project was low on the messiness scale, low on the grownup involvement scale and involved discovering, creating and moving – fun!
We had a little trouble with this one because one of the felt provided was white and lots of the flag examples were white. I thought that was a little odd, but in hindsight, I think we were just suppose to stick the sticky felt pieces right on the flag part? That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it! We were able to make it work our own way and had a good time with it!
This month’s explore! magazine included a story, a drawing project and various craft ideas. It also included a little passport game which reminds me that I need to get L’s passport renewed!!!
This month’s “try it for yourself” was a blubber experiment and was all about discovering how penguins and other Antarctic animals stay warm. We didn’t have any shortening so we couldn’t do this one, but next time we are at the store we will pick some up and do this because it sound fun!
Did you get Kiwi Crate this month? What’d you think? Which box did you get this month if you ordered from somewhere other than Kiwi Crate? If you are interested in subscribing, head to the Kiwi Crate website to order your crate. And don’t forget to use the coupon code “FBSave25” to save 25% off your first box!
No it’s not true about the deal sites, they will just send you whatever box even on a regular subscription. I have a normal subscription and get old boxes.
THat’s interesting! I totally thought it was just if you ordered through a deal site that this happened.
nope. we got the firefly box.
I am wondering if it has to do with annual subscriptions vs month to month. We have an annual subscription, and we always get the new boxes. I get the same ones as you do each month. I’ve also subscribed for a couple of years, pretty much since the beginning, so I don’t think there would be too many old boxes that I don’t already have.
Hmm, maybe? I have been a subscriber for a while too, so I don’t know what I would get either???
I just started getting Kiwi Crate through a deal and we got the Polar Expedition, which was fine with me. I would like to get this Around the World one too sometime. The only thing was I got boxes for a 3yo and a 5yo and they both got the Polar Expedition box.
I really liked the Polar Expedition box. I wonder if there is a way to request different boxes for different kids in the same family? I am guessing no, but who knows?
I have gotten two old boxes in a row, and subbed through one of the deal sites. I purchased the Science kit separately, and still got an older kit this month. It’s a bummer, mainly because I would like to get the Explore magazine and it doesn’t come in the old boxes.
That is too bag! The magazine is a good part of it!
My son got a subscription for the for the holidays and he has only gotten older crates too.
Interesting!!!!
Yep, we got an older one (I think–it’s about exploring color) and I signed up through the site. What’s weird is that December 2013 was our first box, and we got the Polar Expedition one like you did. Our subsequent boxes have not been the newest ones. Which to us, is new anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal.
I wonder what the criteria is? I swear they never used to send older boxes like that? Maybe they did and I just don’t know it???
Mine is the same. We started with December and got the Polar Expedition, then Secret Agent and then the Color Explosion one this month
I love this theme! Wish my daughter were old enough to appreciate it!!
L really enjoyed it!
We get kiwi crate for my 5 year old son too – his February box was about birds and nests. He liked it okay, but didn’t love it. He would have loved this map one. I wonder if we can get one sent if we pay for it?
I’m not sure? Or maybe it will eventually come in your subscription??
I signed up through the Kiwi Crate website and got 40% off my first box (received it February 2014). We received the Polar Expedition, and I saw that you reviewed that one on here in December 2013. I actually contacted Kiwi Crate to see if it is their practice to send “old” boxes to people who use a deal to buy their box subscription. This was their response:
Thank you for reaching out to Kiwi Crate.
I am happy to clarify. Not all of our subscribers receive the same crates each month – the fact that you used a discount code has nothing to do with the theme that you received. Our system identifies the themes that you have received in the past and assigns a crate based on previous history – so many folks received the Polar Expedition crate in the past few months. Many of our fan-favorite crates are currently in circulation – customers may receive one of perhaps eight different crates in a given month. We have never offered the option to choose which crates are sent in any given month. As your crate history grows, newer crates will enter your shipment circulation.
Thanks for checking in about this, Rebekah.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Thanks,
Kara
THank you for clarifying!!!! I enjoyed the polar expedition one! We still have our window clings up!
I’ve been really disappointed in our last two crates – we got the firefly and colors 🙁 i don’t want to get old boxes! We just cancelled KC and subscribed to Green Kid Crafts. I want to know what boxes we are getting each month and my kids love their Green Kid Discovery boxes.
I loved colors but I don’t recall firefly! That’s great about GKC. I need to try them!