The Tinkering Toddler Crates is a monthly educational activity box for toddlers and preschool-aged children, ages 3 to 5. The monthly subscription costs $30, and if you opt for longer ones (3-, 6-, or 12-months prepay), you can save as much as $2.50 per box. Each month comes with a theme and is packed with all the materials needed to do three (3) developmentally appropriate activities including STEM, arts, sensory, language, literacy, math, writing, and dramatic play. The box is created by a credentialed, master teacher, and a mom, so all the activities are great for learning, and age-appropriate. The crates are great for sharing and gifting too!
DEAL: Save $5 off all subscriptions for first order. Use coupon code HELLO5 .
The side of the box has their website URL.
The box even comes with a warning as it may contain small parts. The contents are ideal for ages 3 and up!
The interior of the box cover tells us more about the subscription and even encourages us to share photos on Instagram and Facebook. If you tag them, you’ll have a chance to be featured on their page.
The box is filled with lots of stuff, and we’re excited for the activities that await us!
The box also included a child’s milestone chart from ages 3 to 5, and they included movement/physical development, cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving), language/communication, and social/emotional.
There’s also a booklet included in the box. This month, we’re doing the WILD TURKEY box!
Inside the booklet, there’s a thank you message from the owner and founder of the Tinkering Toddler Crates. Each activity is also explained on the next page.
You can also find the complete instructions of each activity inside the booklet.
The activities this month are Mr. Gobble’s Hideout, Wild Turkey Race, and Wild Turkey Sensory Craft.
Everything in our crate!
There’s a cute bookmark that features some Turkey-related reads!
The Tinkering Toddler Crate library finds are 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnson, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano, Run Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr, T is for Turkey by Tanya Lee Stone, and A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.
Activity #1: Mr. Gobble’s Hideout. The first activity is making Mr. Gobble’s Hideout. The activity can take you 30-45 minutes to complete, and it has a messy rating of 4 out of 5 stars. For this activity, they provided flour, salt, vegetable oil, cream of tartar, pumpkin spice, and a bag of loose pieces. From home, you will need a pair of scissors, a mixing bowl, and a spoon. Adult supervision is needed as you will also use boiling water.
The first thing that we need to do is pumpkin-scented play dough. We mixed the dry ingredients which consists of flour, salt, cream of tartar, and pumpkin spice in a mixing bowl.
We added some vegetable oil on the dry ingredients and stirred it thoroughly. While stirring consistently, we slowly added the boiling water.
Then, we kneaded the formed dough. If it’s too dry, you can add some more water, and if it’s too soupy, you can add flour.
It’s time to make the turkey! Using the playdough and some feathers, we made some turkeys.
The playdough can last for months if it’s stored properly.
It’s time to make Mr. Gobble’s hideout using the loose pieces!
The turkeys will have a place to hide so that they won’t end up on the dinner table!
It’s fun to play with the playdough that we made, as it easily forms into whatever we want it to.
The kids added some leaves on top of the hideout as well.
The feathers indicate that some of these are turkeys, while the leaves tell us that it’s the hideout.
It’s nice to know that we can make this multiple times as the playdough can be used all over again and may last for a longer time!
Activity #2: Wild Turkey Race. The second activity, Wild Turkey Race, is less messy with a rating of only 1 star out of 5. It will also take just 30 minutes. For this activity, we used mini white fence, turkey game pieces, dot die, activity mat, total number cards, Unifix counters, and a black pen.
The guide also noted that before you start playing the game, you should label one number per slat on the white fence, and put “Finish” on the last slat. Also, don’t forget to cut the total number cards apart.
To play the game, the first person will roll the die (either the dot or the number die).
Then, count that many Unifix counters and put them on “Roll #1” on the activity mat.
Roll a second time, then count that many Unifix counters and roll them on “Roll # 2”. Add the two quantities by counting the Unifix blocks and find the total number card that matches the number of Unifix cubes from roll 1 and 2. Move the turkey on the number spaces on “total” box.
Player number 2 has to do the same.
The one who reaches “finish” first wins the game.
My kids enjoyed this game so much, they want to play again and again!
Activity #3: Wild Turkey Sensory Craft and Fall Color Hunt. The messiest out of the three activities with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars is the Wild Turkey Sensory Craft and Fall Color Hunt. The activity is also the longest one to do at 60-90 minutes. For this one, you’ll need a Fall Color Hunt bag, a white canvas, carbon tracing paper, turkey printout, glue, watercolor bleeding tissue paper, paintbrush, a pencil, and a cup of water.
For the last activity, we’ll need to gather fall colors found in nature from the outside and place them inside the Fall Color Hunt bag.
The first step is to trace the turkey on the canvas using the carbon tracing paper, pencil, and the turkey printout. Then, make the collage using the materials found on the fall color hunt like leaves, plants, sticks, and flowers, then glue them on the canvas.
After letting the materials dry, it’s time to use the watercolor bleeding tissue paper to fill the background with more vibrant color!
To make the tissue paper “bleed” vibrantly, make sure that it’s thoroughly wet. Let it dry and then remove and discard the tissues.
Now it’s time to feel, look, and smell the things that represent fall.
It looks great when placed on a mini easel!
It’s our very first box from Tinkering Toddler Crates, and it’s definitely fun! The three activities are all engaging, and my kids loved doing them all. They enjoyed making the playdough turkey and hideout, and we’re glad that the product is not just for one-time use. The race game is also great, my kids kept on playing it and taking turns. As for the sensory activity, my kids learned more about the different things that represent the season of fall. It’s really fun to make a collage every once in a while. They made masterpieces out of everything! The box provides everything that we’ll need and it’s great for family bonding, and an amazing gift to other people as well, to let them experience the fun in learning!
What do you think of this month’s box?
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