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.
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!).
This month’s Koala Crate theme was CAMPING! 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.
Imagine! Magazine
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 and always feels like a game, not schoolwork.
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.
Your kids will always learn a little bit about the top beyond the projects, as imagine! provides some background – at least enough to provide some context and tie the cartoon in with the projects.
My son wasted no time and started doodling on the river maze activity.
In addition to the main projects, there are several games and activities in imagine! magazine. Activities usually include tracing, matching, picture finds, or word recognition games.
Koala Crate Crafts
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. They’ve recently added some additional symbols denoting the developmental skills practiced in doing the activity, such as fine or gross motor skills, creativity, etc.
Every activity tells you the required materials, engagement questions to ask your child, step by step instructions, and play ideas. Though most crafts are self-explanatory, they have helpful illustrations and clear instructions, so it’s hard to go wrong.
This Crate is a good example of how Koala Crate treats a theme. They build multiple activities around it, giving your child lots to do while remaining immersed in the topic. It makes it easy for caregivers to transition the child from one activity to the next without interruption, but it also creates breakpoints for spreading the Crate across a few crafting sessions. When you are done crafting, your child has always learned something and has fun stuff to play with.
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.
Bear Backpack. The first activity we tried is designing a backpack. My son was in charge of putting the googly eyes and the felt stickers in place.
He excitedly finished the design of the bag because he wanted to try it on! How cute!
This cute bag can be used for storing snacks for camping!
Campfire. Camping will never be complete without a bonfire. The real thing is not safe for kids, so this activity is all about making a paper campfire.
My son was still wearing the cute bag as he proceeded on making a camping bonfire. All you need to do to create the bonfire is to wrap the paper squares on the end of the stick and press it on the campfire topper until it’s attached. He did it all by himself!
Camping Cookout. Now that we have a bonfire, it’s time to “grill” s’mores, marshmallows, and hotdogs which are all made of felt.
See how he playfully cooks his s’mores on the bonfire!
Then, he pretends to eat his newly cooked s’mores. How cute!
He’s still hungry, so he proceeds to prepare himself a hotdog.
…with ketchup and mustard, of course!
Koala Crate Extension Activities
In addition to extension activities using common household supplies, there are also suggestions for further reading on the subject. This month’s recommended books are Boris Goes Camping by Carrie Weston and Tim Warnes, Flashlight by Lizi Boyd, and 1 2 3 Make a S’more with Me by Elizabeth Gauthier.
He is now all set for camping. My son is so happy. I love that we get to create moments like this while he’s young.
I can really see the happiness on my son’s face and that makes me happy as well. We get to bond and share memories while learning through play. The box made him curious and excited to experience camping. He gets to transform a simple bag into a cute one by sticking simple and fun shapes. He was also able to expand his imagination playing with the bonfire kit and our homemade campsite. Koala Crate constantly gives us the best activity boxes! It also makes a great activity for babysitters, grandparents, or other caregivers!
Have you tried Koala Crate? What did you think of this month’s theme?
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