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, Panda Crate, Maker 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 THAILAND!
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.
I can see a lot of interesting items inside!
Everything in the crate!
First, we got this letter that says “Sawat Dee!” which means “Hello!” in Thai.
The letter opens up to show us an introduction to Thailand.
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.
One of the flaps has 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 Tua and the Elephant and Thai Children’s Favorite Stories: Fables, Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales.
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!
Each month, we get a sticker that represents the featured country. This month’s sticker features Thailand’s most famous floating market!
We placed our newest sticker on the Adventure Book, along with the other countries that we have already explored!
There you go! We’ve explored so many places already!
The table of contents is on the edge of each page for easy reading, just like how a travel book works.
This booklet also comes with a cute illustration of the country’s map with some fun facts and drawings of Thailand’s notable events, sports, places, or products from that particular location.
Atlas Crate Activities
These pages feature the beginning of the adventures of Anya and Milo in Thailand.
They started their adventure in Bangkok where they bought a cuddly elephant toy souvenir named Chang, which is also the Thai word for elephant. They even went to Ping River, Chiang Mai, and Lopburi, also known as the monkey metropolis. The duo also introduced us to Thailand’s national symbol, the Asian elephants!
Milo and Anya’s Thailand tour would not be complete without visiting the most famous floating market! It’s a place in Thailand where people buy their fruits and vegetable straight from the farmers’ floating boats.
They also introduced us with Len Choa, its the Thailand’s version of the well-known strategy board game called leopard hunt!
Atlas Crate Recipe
This month’s featured recipe is Pad Thai. It became the national dish of Thailand after the country’s name was changed from Siam!
This part of the booklet features everything you need to know in making the Pad Thai including the original ingredients, optional toppings, and detailed step-by-step procedure.
Pad Thai is a scrumptious stir-fried dish made from dried flat rice, brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, vegetable oil, green onions, minced cloves, and scrambled eggs.
This dish features a unique flavor that my kids loved so much!
Atlas Crate Projects
For this month’s Atlas Crate projects, we made our own Krathong and Shadow Puppet Theater!
As always the crate provided all the materials needed to complete the projects.
Activity #1: Krathong. For this project, we used sticky foam hexagon, sticky foam triangles, petal strip, foam circle, clear stickers, fringed strip, sticky foam rectangle, sticks, candle flame, candle base, gold foil, and purple flag.
Featured at the back of the booklet are some fun facts about Krathong!
Loy Krathong means “to float a basket”.
At the end of the rainy season, on a night with a full moon, it’s time for the festival of Loy Krathong. To celebrate, Thai families gather beside a nearby body of water. People light candles and make wishes, and then they set krathong on the surface of the water and watch them float away. If your candle remains lit until your krathong drifts out of sight, it means a year of goodluck.
This project is divided into four different parts: making the base, adding the petals, make the candle and sparkler, and finishing the Krathong!
Each section came with detailed instructions!
First, my son put the paper and the hexagon foam together. Then, he peeled off the white side of the sticky foam hexagon and folded both corners so that the sticky part is completely covered. He repeated these steps to the rest of the other 5 sections.
Then, he spread out the petal strips and brought the hook on the bottom part of each petal across the base of the petal. He also stuck the tabs of the petal strip to the foam base. He repeated the same procedure to the single petals and the fringed strip.
Once done, he made the candle using the candle base and the candle flame, and then stuck it in the middle of the sticky foam base.
My son also used the sticks, gold foil, and purple flag to form a sparkler and flag pole.
He poked the sparkler and the flag into one of the small holes in the foam circle. It’s ready for sailing!
Activity #2: Shadow Puppet Theater. For this project, we used sticky foam cuffs, feet, legs, screen, frame strips, triangles, brads, sticky foam blocks, handles, sticks, and variety of animal shapes.
The back of the booklet contains some amazing facts about shadow puppets!
In the past, shadow puppets were lit behind using candles or oil lamps. Today, they use electric lights.
Shadow puppets are a type of theater that is more than a thousand years old. It’s thought to have started in India and then spread to other Asian countries. In Thailand, this style of puppetry is called Nang Talung.
Like the first project, this one also comes with a very detailed instruction manual.
The project is divided into four parts: making the stage, making the puppets, installing the light, and showtime!
My son worked on building the stage and he started by putting a frame on the screen and locking it using the brads.
After finishing the screen, my kids also assembled the stand by putting sticky foam cuffs around the feet and legs’ notches and then combined them together. Finally, they locked the stand on the frame using the brads.
Once the stage was done, my son started making puppets by arranging the handles and putting the sticky foam block on one end.
He poked the stick up through the bottom hole and then poked the other end of the stick down into the foam block. He repeated the procedure for the rest of the animals.
The puppet animals we have are elephant, cat, lizard, and shark!
The shadow puppet theater is ready!
My kids placed a lamp at the back of the screen, as well as the animal puppets. Then, they lit the lamp and moved the puppets using the wooden handle.
These puppets are very detailed and the designs are awesome. My kids easily recognized each puppet!
Another fun thing about this activity is that kids can make up their own stories while doing the puppet show. They can be as creative and as imaginative as they want with their story!
Here are all the Thailand-themed projects we made!
Thailand is an interesting country, with lots of historical places and, of course, delicious food! My kids enjoyed learning about the country this month and making the related projects, especially the shadow puppet theater. They even came up with their own stories as they played with the puppets, which is a great exercise to enhance their imagination. The crate’s activities definitely make a great bonding experience, not just for the kids, but for the whole family as well! It also helps them appreciate different cultures and make them more understanding of the world!
What do you think of KiwiCo’s Atlas Crate?
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