Reviewed by
Roxie
ToucanBox is a flexible subscription service that encourages little fingers and minds to stay curious, creative and busy, which is especially important during this uncertain and confusing time. The box is aimed at children aged 3-8. Penny is now 4 and although she often finds a few of the activities challenging, she always has fun playing and experimenting with the materials. Every box brings a different opportunity to explore different textures, colour and materials, as well as develop her creativity, independence and knowledge of the world around her.
Each letterbox-friendly box (personalised with your child’s name) contains two activity packs full of inspiration and materials, a colourful magazine with stickers and a very small surprise gift. Each activity has a rating to give you an idea of the level of grown-up assistance needed, messiness and whether of not drying time needed.
Royal Crown & Finger Puppets
Contents: ribbon, double stick tape, coloured pencils, sticky back foam, jewels and finger puppets.
Our first activity pack contained all the materials we’d need to create our own crown and royal finger puppets. Penny was excited to become a queen like Anna from her favourite film, Frozen. It’s funny that even though I often find some of the themes quite random, Penny’s imagination always manages to find some kind of link and context. This activity was very straightforward. Simply stick the ribbon to the felt crown (this ensures the crown is completely adjustable) and stick the ‘jewels’ to the crown. There was also pre-cut finger puppet templates and coloured pencils to colour them in. Penny loved giving the puppets different voices and using her fingers to make them walk around.
Raccoon Outfit
Contents: ribbon, sticky foam, sock, foam mask and ears, sticky back felt pieces and elastic.
Often the activity packs contain make-your-own dressing-up outfits. This month, we received this very cute, Raccoon Outfit. Once again, Penny related the activity back to one of her favourite Disney films, Pocahontas. We also watched funny raccoon videos on YouTube which she found hilarious. Activities like this encourage children to take a more active role in caring about nature and promote interesting discussions about the behaviours, characteristics and habitats or different animals.
Penny pieced together the pre-glued felt pieces by using the pictures in the instructions for guidance. I helped her attach the elastic and she added the remaining felt stripes to the sock to create the racoons tail which she could then tie around her waist. She then dressed as a racoon and pretended to sneak around stealing food just like in the videos.
By Evelyn 
