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 is CITYSCAPES! 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.
One of KiwiCo’s goals is to equip the next generation of innovators with the tools and confidence for creative exploration and problem-solving.
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.
The illustrations are animated and truly engaging, they keep my son interested!
There’s even an on-page activity for kids to work on. This one doubles as a shape-recognition practice and a coloring activity!
My son started with it immediately and the first shape he recognized is a circle!
Here are more exciting activities that will definitely keep kids busy! It includes a maze and a list of various modes of transportations that we can discuss.
Kellan the koala lost his elephant stuffed toy, and my son is helping him to find his friend!
Koala Crate Crafts
The instruction booklet is intended for the adult helper and gives detailed instructions for the activity.
This booklet lists all the supplies, the 3 primary activities, the messiness level, and any grownup assistance needed. They even included some additional symbols denoting the developmental skills practiced in doing the activity, such as fine or gross motor skills.
Every activity states you all the required materials, engagement questions to ask your child, step by step procedures, and play ideas. Though most crafts are self-explanatory, they have helpful illustrations and clear instructions, so it’s hard to go wrong.
Everything in this month’s box!
Activity #1: Skyline Paintings. For the first activity, we’re making a skyline painting. The crate provided the stickers and paper.
This project also includes paint cup, paint, and sponge brush.
This project is pretty messy, make sure to wear an apron before starting the activity. My son is really excited to start!
The first step is to cover your work surface, then set the sheet of watercolor paper on top. Once done, carefully arrange the shape stickers to create a beautiful skyline design on the paper.
Next step is to pour a small amount of paint into the cup, then dip the sponge brush in the paint and dab it on the paper.
Paint over the entire paper, make sure to include the stickers. After clearing the whole sheet, let it dry for at least an hour.
When the paint is dry, gently peel off the stickers!
Here’s the skyline painting made by my sons. This activity enhances the kids’ shape recognition and imagination.
Activity #2: Card City. For the second activity, we’re making a card city! The crate provided us with materials including door cards, window cards, roof cards, foam squares, and foam circles.
We started the activity by picking up four cards and sliding each one of them onto the foam circle. Then, we connected them using the foam squares.
The circle foam works as the base of the building while the square foams are used to connect each and every card.
Continue adding cards with foam squares until you construct a building!
There’s a variety of ways you can create a card city! You can create a small square house, or even a two-story building just like the one my kids did. You can also mix and match the cards to create a unique and colorful design!
Activity #3: Stencil Drawing Bag. For the third activity, they provided us a cotton drawstring, wax paper liner, stencil stickers, paint, sponge brush, and paint cup. We’re putting stencil designs on the drawstring bag!
The first step is to peel a stencil sticker off the sheet and put it on the bag. Once done, dab the sponge brush over the stencils and make sure to completely cover the blank space.
Too much paint will leak over the edges of the stencil, so make sure that you dab the brush lightly to avoid leakage.
Once done with the painting, let the paint dry for about an hour.
When the paint is dry, gently peel off the stencil stickers and remove the wax paper line.
Here’s our finished product! This drawstring bag can be used for keeping my kids’ art materials!
Koala Crate Extension Activities
There are also book suggestions in the Koala Library, which includes Dreaming Up by Christy Hale, Changes, Changes by Pat Hutchins, and City Shapes by Diana Murray and Bryan Collier.
Here are all of our finished activities! My kids had so much fun making these!
Koala Crate projects are always a hit with my kids. Each project definitely helped them to become more detailed, imaginative, and creative. Activities involving paint might be messy, but they’re worth it! Also, most of the materials are already provided in the crate, so all we really need to do is to lay them out and start. The booklet is complete with step-by-step instructions as well. Overall, our family had a great time with these activities and we can’t wait for more! If you have kids who love crafty activities as well, this is the perfect subscription to try!
Have you tried KiwiCo’s Koala Crate? What did you think of this month’s theme?
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