Cricket Crate is the newest member of the KiwiCo family that’s specifically curated for babies 0-36 months old. Cricket Crate aims to lay the foundation for lifelong learning through educational toys, books and other baby essentials delivered to your child each month. The subscription costs $19.95 per month, just like the other crates from KiwiCo.
This month’s all about Neighborhood Fun.
Note: Cricket Crate is available in three versions — The Newborn Pack is designed for babies of around 0-3 months old. It comprises a storybook, baby friendly toy, and some reading for parents that highlights developmental milestones and other items of interest. This review covers the version designed for 24-36 month old kids, which started shipping in November 2017. They are also launching an intermediate version for kids ages 4-23 months. Look for that to be available soon!
DEAL: Use this link to save 30% on your first month of Tadpole Crate!
Wonder Magazine is full of practical advice and developmentally appropriate bonding tips great for new and veteran moms, dads, and other caregivers!
There are articles about your baby’s motor skills development, as well as a timeline of your growing child.
As well as fun games to play with baby!
All of the KiwiCo family of boxes strive to mix educational content with fun activities. Much of the learning is geared toward developing basic skills like motor coordination. There is lots of great info for parents to read — it really adds some insight into the growth your child is experiencing.
Because the target age for Cricket Crate is so young, the focus is all on providing information and support for parents, and the activities are geared toward providing quality bonding time between baby and parent.
There were also activity suggestions for some real world adventures to have with your child, complete with ideas for tying in the lessons from the Crate activity.
The Crate features several activities. The first was creative play with wooden Cricket and Sam characters. The wooden characters can be used as water stamps on the mat, and you can give them a bath with the washcloth. The booklet notes which developmental areas are most engaged by each activity.
Another activity was painting on a special color-changing mat. One side is printed with a neighborhood design, and the other is blank to make your own patterns and pictures!
Cricket’s Great Wait Board Book: The Crate also included and age-appropriate story book and a reading guide.
This story tracks Cricket as he chases a kite and finds himself separated from his friends, Sam and Shelly. Your child can act out the story with the wooden character blocks.
Cricket unwittingly explores her whole neighborhood and teaches us a lesson about what to do when you’re lost.
The mat was lots of fun — like most kids, ours absolutely love playing with water. The mat is very sensitive and changes color with just a bit of water. It takes a little while to dry out, especially if you soak it, but it can be used over and over again!
We didn’t need any added supplies for the activities, other than water. The Cricket and Sam blocks could be used as stamps or figurines for the mat.
We are always impressed with Kiwi family boxes, and it is no surprise that they have done a fine job with Cricket, too. Our son is a couple months over the suggested age range for this box, but he thought it was tons of fun. I can’t wait to see how they distinguish the activities and guidance for the 4-23 month box. As experienced parents, we can safely say we could have really used monthly goodies and information delivered to us for any of our three kids. What a great shower gift this would be!
What do you think of this month’s Cricket Crate?
Comments
I just gave this box to my 22 month old daughter. She’s been wanting to play with the water mat constantly since! She did like giving the wood blocks a bath, but then decided when I commented on it that she wanted a bath herself. 🙂
The book is a bit advanced for her, though, so I have to paraphrase. Still, she likes it!