They are engineering a world of awesome for our children
In the dog days of summer, if you’re a parent you’re probably wondering how to entertain your kids. Between trips to the park, summer camp stints, and dropping them off at Maw Maw and Paw Paw’s to get them out of your hair, keeping your children engaged in the summer is an ongoing war of attrition.
To educate, entertain and keep them from destroying the house and each other seems like a tall order but KiwiCo has what the doctor ordered. The project crates from the Los Altos California-based company offer “edutaining” activities for all ages, no matter their development level.
KiwiCo is a company that specializes in activity crates housing various projects based in STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) and geography, which Americans sorely need right now. The company, founded by Sandra Oh Lin in 2011 was created, “...To celebrate kids' natural creativity and curiosity, while helping parents who want to bring enriching experiences to other children.”
As a chemical engineer and a mother of three, she knew all too well the struggle of keeping children engaged and luckily for parents like myself, had the foresight to build a company to help us with that matter as well.
globally inspired keepsake of amazing activities to look back on
The activities are broken up into nine crates, with ages ranging from 0-24 months to 12-100 years:
Seems overwhelming, but only if you’re trying to sample all of them at once. More than likely you’re going to sample the crate or crates closest to your child’s age range and stick with that for a bit, or at least that’s what I did. My family has ordered the Atlas Crate, primarily because we wanted our children to learn about other cultures outside of America.
Regarding the pricing, it’s super reasonable. You can choose between four subscriptions; either on an auto-renew basis or termed subscriptions (manual renewal) but the prices are higher with the termed subscriptions to encourage you to convert to auto-renew:
Monthly: $23.95 Three Months: $21.95 Six Months: $19.95 12 Months: $18.50
Obviously, the longer you subscribe, the lower the price drops per month. More bang for your buck is always great, but compare these prices to the termed subscription tier:
One Month: $27.95 Three Months: $67.95 Six Months: $124.95 12 Months: $229.95 That price jump is a heck of an encouragement to convert to auto-renew. What my family did was subscribe for three months for $21.95 a month, thinking that if we liked it we’d resubscribe for another three months. There’s also a specially curated book to complement the theme of the crate for $10.95, but we abstained from that. If these prices are still too steep for your liking, they do have one-off crates that feature engineering activities ranging from creating moon darts and bottle rockets to making your own headphones and light-up speakers. And just in case you’re thinking that all this stuff sounds cool, but maybe it’s not feasible, every activity has been designed by expert engineers and tested by children. Shipping is free when the craft boxes are shipped within the United States. If you choose, you can digitally write your child's name on each box so it's mailed personally to them.
There's also a mini activity that ties in with the binoculars, folding paper replicas of animals on the savanna so that your newly created field glasses can be put to good use
The boxes are sturdy and compact; with all the trinkets stuffed in there, it's rather hefty. All killer, no filler. As I've previously mentioned, I've only dealt with the Atlas Crate but from what I've researched the contents are similar in scope. The crate contains an envelope from your "travel buddies" Anya the Cricket and Milo the Sandpiper; within the envelope are seven Atlas Cards highlighting each country’s geography, customs, landmarks, history, and foods. With each Atlas Crate opened, the Atlas Cards can be combined to make an Atlas Adventure Book; a globally inspired keepsake of amazing activities to look back on.
The most recent Atlas Crate we've received and finished with was about Kenya. There are two activities within; making a pair of binoculars using cardboard, felt and plastic lenses and creating a facsimile of an authentic Kenyan beaded bracelet with a leather strap, string, and beads. There's also a mini activity that ties in with the binoculars, folding paper replicas of animals on the savanna so that your newly created field glasses can be put to good use. The paper replicas of the animals are fine.
It's a useful activity for those on the lower end of the age spectrum, but the binoculars and beaded bracelets are of high quality. The binoculars are made out of thick cardboard tubes, bracings, and foam circles. The plastic lenses fit snugly within the eye cup and are very transparent, no cloudiness detected. It's held together exceptionally well and is adjustable for distance. The leather (or leather-like) base of the bracelet is durable and the beads are tiny but tough. Obviously, you're going to have to facilitate the stringing of the beads to prevent ingestion.
This is only just a fraction of what KiwiCo has to offer, and if the Atlas Crate is any indication, this product is sure to bring hours of imaginative and educational enjoyment. For those teachers who think that this would be a handy addition in their school classroom, KiwiCo does offer classroom packs and bulk orders catalog on the main website. They’ve also partnered with one hundred schools and homeschool networks (Mostly in California, but they have partnerships in other states like New York, Wisconsin, or Utah) for ease of learning regarding the homeschooled or independent learner.
If there’s any parent or educator that is looking for a way to introduce their children to STEAM, whether through cooking, geography, or art, the folks at KiwiCo have got you covered. They are engineering a world of awesome for our children and if this piques your interest, you should definitely take them up on their offer.