Girls Can! Crate Subscription Box Review & Coupon – October 2015

Girls Can! Crate is a brand new monthly subscription box for kids designed to inspire and empower girls to believe they can be and do anything by celebrating fearless women who have helped make the world better. Every month is focused on a single inspiring woman and includes 2-3 hands-on activities, a 20-page activity book, creative play props, a monthly character trait that the inspiring woman exemplified, and collectible character card. Boxes are designed to encourage a love of STEM, foster artistic expression, build self-confidence, encourage critical thinking and support literacy development. The box is designed for ages 4-8. My daughter’s eyes lit up when I told her the name of this box – she was truly excited about it!

Great presentation – perfect for a gift!

Everything in the October box. Note that subscriptions close on the 15th of every month, and if you want to get this box, you can order it through October 15. I’m going with calling this the October box because of that!

Your first box includes a tool kit of supplies and a welcome note.

A full box of Crayola Markers plus a pair of Fiskars Scissors are included so you can have all the supplies you’ll need to complete the crafts in your boxes.

One side of the welcome note is for girls.

And the other side is for parents and other grown up caregivers.  It also notes that Girls Can! Crate supports charities working to fight gender-based inequities.

I was really impressed with the quality of the printed items in the box – it’s all top notch. There was the Activity Book, featuring the Woman of the month Bessie Colman, the information card outlining the activities in the box for the month, as well as the collector’s card (shown in the main photo – the flip side looks like the left half of the information card). The collector’s card features fun facts about Bessie and asks girls to say when they were brave.

You can see some examples of the inside pages by clicking on the small photos. The booklet discussed Bessie Colman’s life and accomplishments, and moved on to STEM topics in her field – how planes fly, and some fun math problems.

Bessie Colman was the first black woman pilot and the first person of color to hold an international pilot license!

You know she’s really concentrating when she takes everything in another room to read quietly!

An activity in the back of the book encouraged kids to learn about a pilot’s uniform and to dress Bessie in her outfit.

I specifically noted that the representation of Bessie was a bit more realistic than usual!

While poking around I found out there’s a Bessie Coleman action figure and tons of great artwork paying homage to her!

Included in the box was a Build Your Own Planes Activity. Materials were included to build 3 types of planes – a Balsa Glider, a Sleek Paper Plane, and a Straw Plane!

We had fun with this activity! My son helpfully decorated the paper plane for us. My daughter’s plane says “NGA” which stands for “Ninja Girl Airlines.”  The instructions encouraged us to decorate them however we wanted, so we used some glitter mod podge on the circles for the straw planes! The box included a roll of washi tape for assembling the straw planes and hanging up the next activity!

The High-Flying Aerial Stunt Game was a GIANT hit for my kids. I cut out the shapes and was impressed again with the quality of the paper – no problems with rips or tears even though the kids got pretty rowdy with their game. A chart was included to track points and the type of plane used – you could also use it to gather experimental data on which plane flies best.

My kids had a BLAST with this activity, with lots of yelling and shouting and general carousing for quite some time. They invented their own game rules and really enjoyed themselves!

Girls Can! Crate includes role-playing props as well, and this Aviator’s Cap with Goggles was totally awesome!

She looks pretty ready for adventure!

She was so excited about it that she wore it all day and piloted everything that she possibly could. I’m sure we’ll be saving our next giant box to make an airplane out of.

This was a fantastic subscription box! Although their target market is girls, I wouldn’t hesitate to grab it for a boy either – my son loved everything and I think it’s important for both genders to be exposed to fearless women as they grow. I was truly impressed with the quality of the items and my kids had great fun with the activities. My daughter read every word of the activity book and completed every activity – and I spent all day answering questions, which was the best outcome that any box for children could have – why was it important that a black woman got a pilot’s license? Why did they think she couldn’t fly? Why do your eyes need protected in the wind?   The October/November box will feature Frida Kahlo and the November/December box will spotlight “an enterprising nurse.” My daughter guessed Elizabeth Blackwell (the first female doctor), but she doesn’t quite know how a doctor and nurse are different yet.

Overall a great box!

Visit Girls Can! Crate to subscribe or find out more! Use coupon HELLO25 to save 25% off your 1st box.