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If you’re a parent, you know the struggle at Christmas Time. While you want your kids to get all the toys on their little lists, you know that your house cannot possibly handle too many more before it actually bursts at the seams! My kids have EVERYTHING: thousands of Legos, all the Action Figures, more books than we can count, a Nerf arsenal to outfit an army, bikes, scooters, ball & bats… you get the picture!
A couple of years ago, my brother & sister-in-law suggested that instead of toys, we exchange experiences with our kids. They gave the kids season passes to the aquarium once and different things like that, but now with both in school, seasons passes are even hard to really use to their full value. They needed to find something different this year. Mike texted me a few weeks before Christmas and asked if I had ever heard of Kiwi Co Crates, and I said I had not. They thought they seemed pretty cool, and I liked that the crates were designated by ages, so they decided to order each boy a crate subscription for his age so we could check it out.
I apologize in advance for the pictures of the shirtless child… the kid does not wear shirts at home anymore! Haha! Luke was very excited to try out his Kiwi Crate so we opened that one up first. I immediately noticed that the instructions were easy to read, and had pictures for the little ones to use as a guide. If I wasn’t helping, Luke could have figured it out on his own, but he wanted us to work on the project together.
The crate comes with all of the tools you need to make their little project, and also with the really cute Explore! Magazine. Side note, this ended up being the perfect project for Luke and me to work on while daddy was watching football! It kept him totally entertained and not running in front of the tv constantly like he usually does!
There were sticker guides to play under the crate pieces to help him know where to put the bolts, and where to screw parts in. His little fingers had no problem stretching the rubber bands over the moving pieces. The more the claw grew, the more excited he was to see it in action!
Once the Claw was put together, it was time to make our little aliens. As you can see, Luke was winding the yarn up just as fast as he possibly could!!!
Luke decided to stop at one little alien, and save the other materials just in case he lost this one. Meet Bob! The crate not only came with the yarn, but they also supplied the pipe cleaners for the antenna & the sticky eyeballs.
Next, it was time to put the claw into action and use it to pick up our little alien! I’m not going to lie, he totally used the claw to grab everything from toys, to my hair, to his brother’s rear end! But, hey! At least he’s having fun with it!
Landry had been reading a comic book and watching football with Dad while we were putting together Luke’s Crate. For a little bit, he was acting too cool to want to put his together with us… until Luke’s claw started to move and work! Now Landry was interested!
Landry was a little more patient with me while we were going through his Tinker Crate to see what all was in it… but only a little bit! He received the Arcade Catapult in his Tinker Crate this month. What boy doesn’t get excited about a catapult????
Just like Luke’s crate, the directions were really easy for Landry to follow with little to no help from me. In fact, the one step I did get involved in, I ended up telling him to put the sticky tack on the wrong side and was promptly to told to back off!
I couldn’t help but get excited when I realized that the catapult also came with a ski-ball type target! Landry meticulously placed the colored stickers just right over the holes so that they’d have the right opening for the balls.
The actual catapult took just a little longer than the target to put together, but Landry had a lot of fun with the assembly. Pretty soon we had a game on our hands! The Tinker Crate provided an afternoon full of entertainment! We can’t wait to see what comes next month.
Kiwi Co has crates for all age grounds from 0-104. To learn more and get $10 off your first crate, click here!
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Carolyn | 15th Jan 19
Oh, how fun! I could see my boy liking this when he’s older. It looks really cool. Great review!
Geeky Daddy | 14th Jan 19
That catapult looks awesome! My toddler is a little young for these crates now, but definitely going to keep this in mind. In the mean time, I guess I will continue to build calluses on my feet by stepping on his Legos and Hot Wheels cars….
Jolene Yee | 13th Jan 19
WOW! This is amazing! I love the idea of this, and I totally agree! Experiences are so much better than toys or things!
Meagan | 13th Jan 19
I always look at these and want to get them! I love all of the STEM boxes and stuff that are coming out these days! So much fun! Way better than just getting more toys!
Teresa @ Sunflowers to STEM | 13th Jan 19
I love Kiwi Crates! After spending the past few years teaching STEM lessons in my library, I’ve seen just how much kids are missing out. Kiwi Crates are a great way to integrate hands-on activities while having fun and move kiddos away from technology for a bit. Great overview, of both boxes, and the best thing is that they can enjoy their own creations for a long time!
Madi Dearson | 13th Jan 19
Before anything else I have to say I just love the fact that you trade experiences instead of gifts, I find myself getting rid of bags of toys once a month or we will drown in them. Experiences are so much better. I love the kiwi crates – My kids love to sit and create and build things and when they get to play with after it’s even better.