Kiwi Crate Review & Coupon – Arcade

My daughter is a little obsessed with claw games (ever since we humored her once and she won on her first attempt), so this Arcade themed Kiwi Crate was super-exciting!  Kiwi Crate is a kids’ craft and activity subscription and it comes with everything you need to create 2 excellent crafts — this month’s two main crafts were actually two parts to one big crane game activity.  This box is geared for ages 3-7.   Kiwi Crate is very good about, depending on your perspective, either making the kids build their toys, or providing crafts that are fun to play with.  In either case, there is always plenty of opportunity for guided and self-directed exploration – it’s the most popular craft and activity subscription box for kids.

Kiwi Crate includes all the supplies you need for two main crafts, plus explore! magazine.  You really need very little from home to do the crafts. Usually, you only need a pair of scissors (which is sent to you with a new subscription!), but often the pieces are pre-cut.  The crate includes self-adhesive items or glue/glue dots if needed for the crafts.  This crate used nut and bolt type easterners for the crane assembly — we only needed our own glue for the additional tilt-to-win game craft.

Each issue of explore! magazine  features a short comic, experiments and puzzles or picture or word find type games.  My son likes to complete the explore! activities cover-to-cover before proceeding to the crafts. Our daughter sneaks the book out first and reads the entire thing.

Every issue of explore! has a comic featuring Steve and his pals going on an adventure that fits this month’s theme. It has additional information and crafts and activities you can complete with household supplies to keep the fun going.  We chose to do the tilt-to-win and the claw game prize box as additional crafts.

Constructing the prize box for the claw game.  We used the Kiwi box and the plastic sleeves that held the pieces to the claw.

The exercises, puzzles, and games in explore! are a great way to get into the theme of the box.  For parents, they are also a great way to keep your child entertained while you peruse the contents of the box and take a peek at the instructions for the crafts (it only takes a peek — they are always very clear and simple)!  This month’s explore! had some penny games to play while Mom or Dad figures out the claw assembly.

The learn section of the book explored the origin and history of some of the most popular types of arcade games and encouraged the kids to design their own.

There’s always a cut out craft to make at the end of the booklet, too!  This edition had some decorations for the various games in the Make It section.

The box construction needed a little adult assistance, since cutting cardboard can be difficult.  The kids had fun decorating the prize box and filling it with grab-able toys.

The instruction booklet folds out, so you can lay it on the table.  It is similar to the “blue print” used in Tinker Crate, the engineering-themed box Kiwi produces for slightly older kids.

As always, the box included a theme-specific Steve sticker.  Our sticker poster is getting very full!

The instructions for the two main crafts.  As always, the two crafts were thematically related but stressed different creative aptitudes.  One is usually very mechanical and process oriented, the other is more artistic or crafty.

The box included everything needed to construct the claw, including a guide to aid the assembly.

The plastic nut and bolt assembly created a sturdy claw capable of easily picking up and holding all kinds of small toys.  This needed parental guidance and a bit of assistance.

The second main craft was making pompom creatures to use as grab-able prizes.

Assembly was easy enough for the kids to do nearly unassisted — much of the process is wrapping the yarn around a C-shaped guide.

The completed claw game prize box.

Though we added extra items, the pompoms were the advertised mega-prize.

Unlike the arcade version, it was a bit difficult to see inside the prize box while operating the claw.  The chances of winning were a lot better, though!

We made the tilt-to-win from the magazine as an additional game.  Having just recycled our paper towel tubes, we used a wrapping paper tube to make the receptacles, wrapping them in colored paper.  This was a simple and fun game for the kids — they got to practice their eye-hand coordination and their score-keeping.

This month’s Kiwi Crate was great fun.  The arcade them really got our kids excited — they kept asking about this craft and couldn’t wait to do it!  Our kids love Kiwi Crate because it is the best box in the Kiwi family for them both to do (they are five and seven).  The activities and instructions are generally very simple, but the kit always includes some factoids and extension activities that keep our older child interested.

Visit Kiwi Crate to subscribe or to find out more about this fantastic kids’ craft subscription box! Use coupon code MS30 to save 30% on your first box of Kiwi Crate (or KiwiCo family subscriptions Tinker Crate, Koala Crate, and Doodle Crate ).