Koala Crate is a monthly subscription box from KiwiCo for preschoolers ages 3 to 5. It is educational and always hands-on. The activities are designed to be developmentally appropriate and enriching while also keeping it engaging, fun, and universally-appealing.
This month’s Koala Crate theme was BUGS! As always, the box comes with all the supplies needed to create a trio of fun, age-appropriate crafts – plus it has a magazine with extra games and activities.
There are two books that will come in your Koala Crate. Imagine! magazine is “a play and learn magazine” made for you and your preschooler to explore together. My son loves it! I like that the instruction booklet is separate from the magazine, so you can preview the activity while your child works on the activities in the booklet.
DEAL: Use this link to save 30% on your first month of Koala Crate! (or any of the KiwiCo family subscriptions – use this page to find the best box for your little one!).
A fun story introduces your child to the theme of the box. The same group of friendly characters is featured each month, and the familiar faces encourage engagement.
Imagine! magazine contains information relevant to the theme so your child learns a bit about the topic while having fun with the craft and play activities. The information is provided in an age-appropriate format.
Activities usually include tracing, matching, picture finds, or word recognition games. The book also includes instructions for some extension activities you can do at home with commonplace household items.
The instruction booklet is intended for the adult helper and gives detailed instructions for the activity.
It lists all the supplies, the 3 primary activities, the messiness level, and any grownup assistance needed.
Every activity tells you the required materials, engagement questions to ask your child, step by step instructions, and play ideas. Even though most crafts are self-explanatory, they have helpful illustrations and clear instructions, so it’s hard to go wrong.
All the materials you’ll need to make this month’s activities! The activities in a box usually all relate to the same central theme, but they each tend to encourage different types of play and help develop different skills.
The comic is a great introduction to the topic, and it’s fun to read together.
Our first project was making bug wings out of felt. The kit included pre-cut self-adhesive felt shapes to decorate the wings, plus a headband kit for antenna.
The cape had hook and loop closure tabs pre-affixed to the collar.
Our bug observing the flowers outside.
Second activity was using a “bug’s eye” prismatic lens to view the world. We made a ladybug felt case to store our viewer. He loved this activity, because he was able to apply all of the decorations by himself.
Some grown-up help was needed with the lacing. The toadstool shaped viewer and ladybug case are so cute!
The final main activity was playing a memory game using bug cards.
The bugs were adorable, and it was fun just to flip and see who we found.
Koala Crate is great for preschoolers, as it relies heavily on shape, color, and pattern recognition and other pre-reading skills. There is always some age-appropriate learning, and it really keeps the kids busy. You can do the activities in a single marathon session, but they are also easy to spread out over several days. All of the boxes in the KiwiCo family are excellent parent, babysitter or grandparent activity boxes, perfect for adding some structure and fun to quality time with the kids, without any pre-planning hassle. Our 2 1/2 year old is a little young for the box and needed some help with the activities, but he still had a lot of fun working through the crate. Often we do the box with our 6 year old — he still really enjoys Koala, because he can do the activities himself. Even our 8 year old likes to do some of the Koala activities, negotiates with her younger brother over what he’ll let her do – most of the crafts have multiples (like the stack of postcards), so sharing is easy.
Have you tried Koala Crate? What did you think of this month’s theme?
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