Atlas Crate is a monthly subscription from KiwiCo that specializes in geography and culture for children between ages 6 to 11 years old. This box is designed to spark kids’ sense of adventure and curiosity, inspiring them to see themselves as citizens of the world. Kids can see and connect with the rest of the world, helping them grow beyond their own experience as they explore the globe.
KiwiCo also offers Kiwi Crate, Koala Crate, Doodle Crate, Tinker Crate, Tadpole Crate, and Eureka Crate. Atlas Crate is a great addition to the KiwiCo family as geography and exploration is always a favorite activity!
DEAL: Save 30% on your first month with this link on any KiwiCo line, no coupon code required!
This month’s box is all about CHINA!
Upon opening, we are welcomed by the cards and pamphlets that are essential to the activities. This subscription emphasizes learning through creative play as they provide in this box everything the kids might need. It builds a sense of adventure, an appreciation of other cultures, builds a sense of global citizenship and opportunity for parents and grandparents to bond with children.
Everything in the crate!
Ni Hao means hello in Mandarin Chinese.
Every flap of the envelope has information about the box. We are also given a beautiful surprise of trivia cards filled with fascinating facts and photos.
We are also introduced to Anya the cricket and Milo the sandpiper.
Also included is the Atlas Quest, which you’ll need to fill out after exploring the country!
You can explore more online after you get your box with additional activities and book suggestions! Atlas Crate recommends Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats.
Atlas Crate Adventure Book
Missed our first review? You’ll get the rings in your first box, which will always start with the WORLD crate. Check out that review here!
We got a sticker that represents this month’s featured country, China. The sticker features a Panda holding its favorite treat!
We placed the sticker on the Adventure Book, along with the other countries that we already explored!
The table of contents is on the edge of the page for easy reading, just like how a travel book works.
It’s a cute illustration of the country map with fast facts and where they have images drawn of China’s notable events, sports, places, or products from that particular location.
We’re really excited to explore this beautiful country!
Atlas Crate Activities
These pages feature the beginning of the adventures of Anya and Milo in China.
The duo’s first stop is the Palace Museum at the Forbidden City! The Palace Museum is a national museum that can be found at the core of Beijing’s Forbidden City, and it was established by after the eviction of the last Emperor of China in 1925, thus, it opened its doors to the public. It’s home to over 1.8 million pieces of art, mostly from the imperial collection of the 2 dynasties, Ming and Qing.
China is also known for these adorable Pandas! The Giant Panda is a bear native to the southern parts of the country. These bears are easily recognized by the distinctive black patches around its eyes, over its ears, and across its round and fluffy body!
Pong Hau K’i is a popular board game in China and is played by people for thousands of years, and it’s made for two players. The board consists of 5 vertices and 7 edges, and each player has two pieces and takes turns to move. At each turn, the player moves with one of their two pieces into the adjacent vacant vertex, and if they can’t move, they lose. If both players play perfectly, the game continues endlessly with no winner.
Atlas Crate Recipe
This month’s recipe is the popular Egg Drop Soup or known in Chinese as Danhuatang, a hearty soup made from beaten eggs boiled in chicken broth, added with black or white pepper, and scallions.
They included complete instructions on how to do this yummy soup. You’ll need vegetable or chicken stock, cold water or stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, eggs, chopped chives, and as an optional add-on, some whole corn kernels. Making the egg drop soup is easy you just need to cook everything in a pot, starting with the stock and soy sauce, then add dissolved cornstarch to thicken the soup, then bring it to boil. Turn off the stove but keep the pot on the stove and start to pour the beaten eggs while stirring it gently so the eggs cook in long ribbons, add the corn and chives, and serve the soup while it’s hot with more chives on top.
Atlas Crate Projects
For this month’s Atlas Crate projects, we’re making a Folding Fan and a Dancing Dragon!
Activity #1: Dancing Dragon. For the first activity, the crate already provided the dragon’s body pieces, tail, control bars, brads, wood mouth, head, jaw, pipe cleaners, strings, spikes, and sticky foam.
Also included in the sheet are steps on how to make the Dancing Dragon, which consists of 5 parts.
The instructions are well-illustrated, making the task easier to accomplish.
When it’s done, we just have to make it dance!
The booklet even shared fun facts about the Dancing Dragons! The Dragon chases the “pearl of wisdom,” a ball on a stick that’s being held by another dancer. Also, the longer the dragon, the more good luck it brings. And aside from the dragon, there’s also the Dancing Lion in many Chinese celebrations!
My daughter started by putting the dragon’s head together.
After prepping every part of the dragon, it’s time to assemble!
Then, my daughter attached the strings to the dragon and connected them to the control bars.
We tested it out first by making sure that the strings aren’t tangled, and are on their right holes.
We also made sure that the brads aren’t too tight so the dragon can really move to the beat of the drums!
Our dragon looks very happy! The kids then practiced some beat that the dragon can dance to!
Activity #2: Folding Fan. The next activity is making Chinese Folding Fan. From the crate, we got rice paper, bamboo slats, sticky foam, tassel, brush, ink, cup, magic paper, and bonder post. From home, we used a cup of water, scrap paper, and masking tape.
It also included a sheet that lists everything in the kit, plus some items that you’ll need from home. It also provided more information about the use of the item in the featured country!
Before assembling the fan, we need to practice doing the painting that will serve as the design of the fan. They provided some pictures with corresponding Chinese characters, like the panda, mountain, and the dragon.
Once upon a time, fans were stiff panels with handles, and the invention of folding fans make bringing this well-needed item easier! Many of these fans are made with bamboo, while some fancier ones are made out of fragrant woods. Also, fans are used in dancing! Adding to that, Traditional Chinese Fans are an artistic symbol of literati and social status.
We practiced painting the symbols first on the magic paper.
After some tries, it’s time for the real deal, doing the painting on the fan (rice) paper.
We did 2 out of the three paintings, the dragon, and the mountain.
After drying the painting, it’s time to put the paper on the bamboo slats, attach everything, and put the tassel at the handle.
Fans aren’t just items to cool ourselves, but they also symbolize the Chinese culture.
It’s really convenient to have a folding fan around, it’s handy and we can just stash it inside our bags or purse, as compared to bulky, and hard panel fans.
Here’s everything that we’ve accomplished from this box!
China is one of the biggest countries in the world, and they have quite a number of people too! With that, we all know that there are so many interesting places, food, even practices in the country that we can try. This box introduced us to the beautiful Forbidden City, gave us more information about the adorable Giant Pandas, shared a new game to try which is the never-ending Pong Hau K’i, and of course, gave us the recipe for the yummy egg drop soup. We definitely enjoyed making this month’s crafts too, especially the Dancing Dragon. My kids even learned how to paint some Chinese symbols when they made the fan. This crate really let us travel the world and explore great places, people, and practices in the comforts of our home!
What do you think of KiwiCo’s Atlas Crate?
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