Reviewed by
Mary
First Wonder Box has been created by the same people who publish First News, a newspaper for children This new box is aimed at kids age 4 – 8. Little C is seven and a half, so is a good age to try this out!
The box fits through the mailbox, and looks lovely and brightly coloured. The branding is terrific, and tells you what the theme of the box is. In this case, BUGS!
Little C was very pleased with this theme, because she is very keen on bugs of all kinds, and fortunately not at all squeamish!
Here’s the list of everything in the box.
On the inside of the box you can see the game board.
There was a sheet of stickers to use to complete the board. There are also game pieces to cut out to play, and importantly, a die was included!
Here is the little craft kit, a sew-your-own bee. We haven’t actually done that yet because the first thing, after the stickers, that Little C went for was the activity booklet.
This booklet is fantastic. There are a ton of things to do and learn inside.
You even get a little magnifying glass for the Big Hunt! We didn’t get to the bug hunt yet, because despite the sunshine you can see in the pictures, five minutes later it was pouring with rain! But will will certainly get out in the garden when the weather clears up a bit and see what we can find.
There are more pages and activities, these are just a selection. The one here is very clever, because kids have to read everything all the way through in order to answer the question.
You can see on the left the little ladybug toy, which is a lot of fun, and a nice extra treat. There was also the pencil you see pictured, plus a bee eraser topper (we took it off the pencil because Little C doesn’t like the weight).
Well, I have to say I’m enormously impressed. The design of everything is terrific, and there is a nice mix of things to do and learn.
Little C’s favourite thing was the activity book, because she loves worksheets of all kinds. She did find the writing activities such as the wordsearch and adding bits very easy, though she certainly had fun with them. I think that the age range (4 – 8) is quite challenging to work for, because range from kids just learning to read and write to kids who are whistling through Roald Dahl books. But she enjoyed all the informative bits enormously, and is very keen to get into the garden for a bug hunt. There’s definitely lots to learn, even for children at the upper end of the age scale.
£7.99 per month including delivery is incredibly good value. The booklet is good enough quality to keep, and you could easily take it with you on a trip out. The little craft and toy items are a lovely bonus, and I always think including a pencil is essential for things like this, it means you can get right on with doing things! Little C is going to be dipping in and out of this for quite a while, and she absolutely loved the theme. It’s perfect for springtime, as now all the bugs are going to be finally coming out at the weather gets warmer.
By Evelyn 
