Kiwi Crate is a kids’ craft and activity subscription that comes with everything you need to complete a great project or two, usually a pair of crafts that can be used as toys or playtime props. The box is geared for ages 5-8, and the projects are always age-appropriate, though some require more parental assistance than others.
Kiwi Crate is the most popular craft and activity subscription box for kids!
This month’s theme is Rock N Roll Ramps! Kiwi Crate includes all necessary supplies for the featured activities, plus explore! magazine.
DEAL: Use this link to save 30% on your first box of Kiwi Crate!(or KiwiCo family subscriptions Tinker Crate, Koala Crate, and Doodle Crate).
All of the craft supplies from the Crate. You really need very little from home to do the crafts.
Usually, you only need a pair of scissors (they sent us a Kiwi Crate branded pair in our first box!), but often the pieces are pre-cut, scored, or otherwise prepared for you already. The crate includes self-adhesive items or glue/glue dots if needed for the crafts.
Explore! Magazine
An issue of explore magazine is included in every Crate. It is full of fun content that brings the project to life. explore! has read, draw, learn, explore, eat, and make designated activities. There is really a lot to look at and read – a comic, puzzles, and games – and it really extends your young one’s engagement with the Crate. Each expands on the theme of the box, whether through factoids, drawing activities, or recipes, but the variation is helpful for engaging different learning styles and interests.
There is always a comic featuring Steve the Kiwi and his pals, plus lots of historical and scientific information relating to the current theme.
Aside from the comics, they also included facts and some trivia about ramps, like when did it start and how it was used over the years.
The magazine includes extension activities and some simple observational experiments to learn more about the principles underlying the project. This time, the activity illustrates how roller coasters work with the help of ramps.
Kiwi Crate Crafts
The second booklet that comes in every crate is the actual instruction booklet for the crafts, and it often includes additional activities beyond the extension projects included in explore!
Each Crate usually has three activities – either separate projects or phases of a single, large project. This Crate had three distinct projects. The booklet includes an inventory of all the supplies included in the Crate, plus a messiness and parental involvement rating for each project.
Our first project this month is about building our own miniature ramp. Step-by-step instructions guide you through the project. They are clearly written and very easy to follow, pointing out potential pitfalls so you don’t go astray.
Rock & Roll Ramps. Wood ramps, ramp bases, and felt strips were all provided in the crate.
Moving Mice. After making the ramp, the next thing to do is to create the animals which will be traveling down the ramp.
The crate provided paper mice, gray stickers, marbles, and a plastic ball.
This little mouse is looking for some cheese to eat!
Walking Animals. Aside from the mice, my kids also created their own walking horses and other creatures!
Materials included are a horse body and horse legs. My kids enjoyed assembling and designing these animals!
They used ink pads, foam stamps, pattern stencils, and double stick foam from the crate, as well as some markers we got at home. A horse with wings? Looks pretty awesome!
The green one on the left most side looks more of a dragon than the other two winged horses behind. This activity was a great avenue for the kids to be creative!
Cute animals are created and the ramps are constructed. Everything looks great and ready to played anytime!
Every Kiwi Crate comes with a unique Steve sticker (like your merit badge for completing the box). The first box of an annual subscription includes a poster for displaying your earned stickers.
Extension Activities
The ramp can be adjusted on 3 different levels: the shallow, medium and steep. Using these ramp levels, kids can play the next activity, a Ramp Crash game, wherein a marble will be slid on the ramp and awaiting on the end of it are Lego blocks to be crashed. You can also measure the different level of intensity of crash on each level!
Another fun activity for the kids is this Slides and Ladders game! It has the same concept with the snakes and ladders with just a little twist. Instead of using snakes, they replaced it with slides!
The booklet even introduced a recipe for cucumber dip and celery slides. There are also book suggestions related to this month’s theme, which include The Thrills and Chills of Amusement Parks and Roll, Slope, and Slide: A Book About Ramps.
Mouse Games. Meanwhile, here are more mouse games that can be enjoyed by the kids.
First is Steal the Cheese, wherein two mice with attached marble will race through the ramp to get into the cheese first. The mice quickly made it through the ramp!
The mice really won’t leave the cheese alone!
The other game is the Magnetic Maze featuring a cookie sheet and magnets scattered all over the sheet which will serve as a maze. The first mice to go around the sheet on the fastest time will be the winner!
These are all the animals my kids made and they really enjoyed this create!
This month’s Kiwi Crate brought a lot of fun-filled learning activities for my kids! Who would have thought that ramps would be such an interesting thing to learn about? The subscription is really intended for kids ages 5-8 years old, but it is not limited to that age bracket only. Three of my kids worked together to finish this wonderful crate. Almost everything we need for the activities are provided and they even includes detailed procedures. If you’re looking for an activity box that will help you introduce some science, history, and other lessons to the kids, Kiwi Crate is definitely the subscription box you need.
Did you enjoy this months activity? Let us know in the comments!
Visit Kiwi Crate to subscribe or to find out more about this fantastic kids’ craft subscription box!
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