Reviewed by
Roxie
Penny recently received her first-ever Koala Crate from KiwiCo. KiwiCo produces wonderful STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) related project boxes full of engaging and creative activities tailored to your child’s age. There are currently eight lines available; choose the one suitable for your child’s age range and interest, choose your subscription plan (can be paused or cancelled at any time) and have your kids monthly crate delivered to your door.
The Koala Crate is designed with ages 2-4 in mind. Each crate is full of activities relating to a specif theme. This month’s theme was reptiles. Inside her crate were two booklets; one for the ‘Grownup Assistant’ containing the easy-to-follow instructions and the other was the ‘Imagine! Play & Learn Magazine for Kids’. The magazine contained puzzles, a short story about ‘Kellan the Koala’, more arts & crafts ideas and book recommendations to extend your little one’s understanding.
The crate contained all the materials and inspiration to create a stuffed snake friend, a colour-changing chameleon & a turtle box. As a parent, I was incredibly impressed with how engaging and well-thought-out these actives were. I was expecting a few arts and craft activities inside but these were full projects designed to really challenge Penny and get her thinking. As soon as I opened the create I could tell there was the potential for hours of learning, making, discussing and playing inside.
Stuffed Snake Friend
Materials: Fleece snake body, felt hexagon stickers, felt eye stickers and a party horn.
This was the activity Penny was most excited about! Stuffing the snake proved a little difficult but the instructions provided lots of tips to help us along the way. Penny absolutely adores her snake and loved how she could wrap it around her neck and blow the party horn to make the tongue stick out to scare her daddy.
Colour-changing Chameleon
Materials: colour-changing chameleon template, wiggly eyes, 3x bug stands and another party horn.
As Penny’s favourite film is Disney’s Tangled, she was very happy that she had the opportunity to make her very own Pascal. This activity involved Penny blowing through the party horn to create a long tongue to knock down targets. The chameleon template was pre-cut and made from a material that changed colour in her hands. Real chameleons are known to change colour in different temperatures so this was a brilliant added touch.
Turtle Box
Materials: Box, felt turtle template, felt hexagon stickers, wiggle eyes and velcro dots.
The final activity was to create an adorable turtle box to hide your treasures. This was a very straightforward project which allowed Penny to take the lead. She made a pattern with the felt shapes and stuck down all the elements. The velcro dots on the turtle’s feet allowed you to fold it’s head and feet underneath so the ‘turtle’ could hide when there’s a predator nearby.
By Evelyn 
