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Kiwi Crate
Cost: $19.95/month.
Ships To: United States and Canada.
Coupon Code: “FUNPACK” to save 30% off your first month of Kiwi Crate and their family of brands PLUS score a free activity journal, playing cards and summer chalk set!
Kiwi Crate boxes are designed around fun themes and filled with all of the materials and inspiration for hands-on projects for kids ages 3-7. It was one of the first boxes I ever subscribed to and we still love it.
Kiwi Crate ships via FedEx Smart Post and generally takes about a week to arrive. All of my Kiwi Crate boxes (Kiwi Crate, Koala Crate and Doodle Crate) arrived together in one large box.
It rained on and off all day yesterday so W (my 4 year-old) and I thought it would be a good time to do our Kiwi Crate.
The May 2016 Kiwi Crate theme / project was Pinball Machine and included three steps “Make Geometric Art”, “Build Your Pinball Machine” & “Make & Play”
Step #1 – Geometric Art
The first step was to Make Geometric Art and decorate your backboards with colorful shapes and patterns. It was low on the messiness scale and low on the grownup involvement scale.
I ended up doing most of this step (most of the entire process actually) by myself and somehow missed which end was the top and which end was the bottom of the backboard. The side with the green squares should have been the bottom because that is where the sticky tape (to attach it to the machine) was supposed to go. Oops. We managed so it wasn’t a huge deal.
Step #2 – Build Your Pinball Machine
The second step was to build your pinball machine. It was low on the messiness and high on the grownup involvement scale.
This project really was HIGH on the grownup involvement scale. I *think* my 8 year-old could have done most of it himself, but he’s really good with following directions. My 4 year-old though? No way. He helped with putting the brads and washers on, but this was mainly on me. The written instructions weren’t the best, but there were pictures for each step of the process which helped a ton.
Step #3 – Make & Play
After getting the board together it was time to add the pegs, rubber bands and game pieces. We played around with the placement for a bit because at first there was no way to “win” (aka make the ball go in the 100 spot). I have to say, my kids are obsessed with this. They love it and I am a bit blown away by how long they have already spent playing with it.
explore! Magazine
As usual, the explore! magazine includes puzzles, games, recipes, experiments, stories and additional activities relating to the theme.
Do you get Kiwi Crate? What’d you think? If you are interested in subscribing or just want to learn more, click here. New subscribers can use the coupon code “FUNPACK” to save 30% off your first month of Kiwi Crate and their family of brands PLUS score a free activity journal, playing cards and summer chalk set!