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!
DEAL: Use this link to save 30% on your first box of Kiwi Crate! (or KiwiCo family subscriptions Tinker Crate, Koala Crate, Atlas Crate, Cricket Crate, and Doodle Crate).
This month’s theme is PUSH AND PULL TOYS!
Kiwi Crate includes all necessary supplies for the featured activities, plus explore! magazine.
Learn all about the science of string tension, and put it to work engineering wiggly, wobbly push puppets. Then craft a turtle toy you can race using a pull string.
All the items inside the box!
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.
They even have a full article about the science behind tension.
My kids enjoyed the comic so much!
The kids can also learn a lot about strong strings and rugged ropes. They may be thin but they can be really strong and can be used in many applications as well.
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!
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.
The booklet contains a list of all supplies they provided for the crafts. It also has a rating of messiness and parental involvement for each activity.
For our first activity, we made push puppets! This booklet provides detailed instruction and some illustrations, to help you finish the project with ease!
You need to read and understand the instructions before you go on and start with the project, it will also save you time!
In making the push puppets, we will use string tension to make the puppets dance and wiggle. The activity requires the use of the following materials: base, platform, lever, support pieces, rubber bands, brown sticky foam, long white bolt, spacers, nuts, blue bolts, elastic, small and large beads, bead hats, wiggle eyes, and backgrounds.
After identifying the materials and their uses for this activity, the boys started working on the project!
The booklet is easy to follow and understand, that’s why assembling this is easier for them.
It requires more threading of parts and securing them up with nuts and bolts.
It is also important to check the project first before proceeding to the next step, so you can fix it immediately if something goes wrong!
Here are the puppets, ready for the performance of their lifetime!
We also like that this one came with not just one background, so we can actually make a story out of them. The kids loved this one, as the project is easy and fun. And by just pushing the lever located at the back of the puppet, it makes them wobble, and they’re like dancing!
Our next project is about Woven Turtles. It consists of 2 parts: weaving the shell and building/completing the turtle!
Again, this part has easy to follow instructions so that the kids can easily finish them. It helps that they also included detailed illustrations on how to do each step.
In part A, we need the following to weave the turtles’ shells: shell piece, yarn, and the light blue sticky foam.
After completing the shell, we can proceed with building the turtles, and we’ll also need the turtle cutout, felt shapes, wiggle eyes, sticky foam donut, nut, short white bolt, and straw.
My sons proceeded with weaving their own turtle’s shell after choosing a color for each.
They wrapped their yarn over then under each tab on the shell piece.
After completing the shell, it’s time to assemble the turtle. They just need to place the completed shell on top of the turtle body and secure it by using the nut and bolt.
They also placed the sticky foam donut on the turtle’s head.
Adding wiggly eyes to anything makes it look cute!
The sticky foam donut will hold the straw, then the string for the next part of the activity!
The straw will hold the string that the kids will use for the next craft. My kids’ woven turtles are done!
For the third activity, it’s time for a Turtle Race!
To make the turtle race possible, we used the small bead, blue sticky foam, Kiwi Crate box, pull string, straw, and the completed turtles!
We just have to put tension to the test and make the turtles race against each other. It can easily be set-up as the booklet provided all the details, and finally, we’re ready for a turtle race!
Extension Activities
Every crate includes extension activities. For this crate, they included the Easy Elevator, which will also test tension, and will make use of an old Kiwi Crate box that your toys can ride!
There are other activities and articles about strings, like this string-the-dots game, and an article about the uses of strings!
The booklet even introduced a fun recipe for delicious eggy faces! The other page also features a quiz, and they also encourage your kids to email a letter or picture to Steve, and if it is published, they’ll be sending you a plush kiwi!
Here are the kids enjoying their turtle race, even our pup wants to jun the fun!
This is definitely one of the most enjoyable boxes from Kiwi Crate. I can see how my kids loved and enjoyed every bit of it, from making the crafts, up to playing with all of them! Even our pup loved it and wants to join the fun too! It doesn’t just keep them busy, but the box also provided some practical knowledge as most of the principles behind the projects have everyday life uses. The kids also learned that it’s important to know a thing or two about something first before they proceed on doing it and that it also saves them time. They read all the instructions first, then identified the materials to be used in each part of the craft, then started working on them, and checking from time to time if what they’re doing is right, and if it works. This organized way of dealing with this kind of project will make the job easier, and the play more enjoyable! And I’m so proud of how they successfully completed the craft, and how it doesn’t just look great, but works perfectly too!
Did you enjoy this month’s 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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