As the end of the preschool year approached this year, I knew that my boys would need hands-on activities to stay busy this summer. They are content with some paper, crayons, stickers, scissors and tape and creating at random for short times during each day. They call it “Doing a Project”. I am the type of mom that has bins of children’s craft supplies at home, but that lacks the creativity to come up with a project to make said supplies useful. Pinterest is great, but I often forget to tackle any of those ideas until it is too late to prep and gather supplies. In May, I decided to register The Oldest for Kiwi Crate, and while registering I could not resist the sibling add-on [same crate, same project, extra materials] for The Middlest.
The Oldest and The Middlest are very close together in age, however, far enough apart that I knew The Middlest would need help with his projects. Kiwi Crate gears the projects to the child’s age, and I selected the age of The Oldest. You could order two [or more] crates if you are more concerned than I am about age appropriate activities.
Each crate has a theme with enough materials for two separate crafts. Our first crate was a “Rainforest” theme and had supplies to make a game that launched frogs from a lily pad in to a pond and to make a rainstick. The rainsticks are holding up well and the boys love making noise with them. The Middlest needed help with most of both of these activities. They have only played the frog game one time.
Our second crate was a “Camping” theme, which the boys have been acting much more interested in, so they were quite excited. This box had a surprise treat from Nature Box [not something that we subscribe to, yet, but is intriguing!]. The box had supplies to make “sunprint” backpacks and a model campfire. They LOVED the backpack activity, and it was an age appropriate activity for both boys. I appreciate that the end result is also useful and worth keeping around the house. The campfire was also age appropriate for both of them, though not quite as useful.
Overall, I am impressed with Kiwi Crate. Mostly, because all of the supplies are pre-packaged and the instructions for the projects are incredibly clear and relatively easy for my children to follow. Truth be told, I was hoping that these would be projects I could hand off to The Oldest and keep him busy while I tended to other household needs. That is not the case, I need to be fairly hands on with them while we work on the projects. I am thankful for that, though. I have really enjoyed this time with them. The Oldest told me, mid-project, “You know, most mom’s don’t do crafts with their children. I love that you are doing crafts with me!” You win, Kiwi Crate. [and to top it off, on Friday, The Oldest said “Mom, did we get another one of those Kiwi boxes dropped off yet?”]
Once they head back to school in the fall, I do not think that Kiwi Crate will be something that we continue, but rather that we pick back up on, again, next summer and likely keep on our wishlist. I would certainly recommend it to anyone, whether there was an incentive or not. Kiwi Crate did not sponsor this post, and we paid for our subscription on our own. However, if you click our referral link, you save $10 on your first box, and we receive a $10 credit. Win, win.
[in case you missed it… here’s our Citrus Lane review]
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