While most people have heard of subscription boxes, not everyone knows there are great quality kits available for even the youngest kids.
Today we’ll be hearing from one of our Friends of Fractus family reviewers to give you their experience with a Koala Box from KiwiCo. They put this subscription box for toddlers through it’s paces.
What you’ll see below is their opinion after using the product – the likes, dislikes, and whether or not it’d be worth buying for your child. Their instructions were clear – they should share their opinions like they were talking about the Koala Crate to a close family member.
Did they like the Farm Crate? What would they change? Let’s find out!
Who Is The Koala Crate Subscription Box Made For?
The Panda Crate is targeted at toddlers aged 2-4 years old. It is their toddler subscription crate available in the market in 2020. Kiwi Co has a variety of different subscription products and options available for kids of all ages. Our staff has been quite impressed with the quality of their crates – so much so that we’ve gone through and reviewed all of their product line.
You can view our Kiwico subscription box reviews here for more detailed information, but the short version is:
The Entire KiwiCo Crate Lineup
- 0-24 month olds – Panda Crate
- 2-4 year olds – Koala Crate
- 5-8 year old kids – Kiwi Crate
- 6 – 11 year olds – Atlas Crate
- 9 year old kids – 16+ year old students – Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate
- 14 + year old teens – Eureka Crate
As mentioned above, the Koala Crate is designed for children in their toddler years. This age group has different needs than other kids – so the projects are different too. They are designed not only to keep your child entertained, but also to make sure YOU can enjoy your time together with your toddler. I think they do a good job pulling off this goal.
You can buy individual crates, but the subscription will send you a Koala Crate each month. They have many different crates available so your toddler will have something new to look forward to in the mail. Especially now that kids are restricted from some outside play, the Koala Crate is a great alternative to say online play.
Will KiwiCo Ship The Koala Crate Overseas?
Absolutely! The Koala Crate currently can be shipped to 42 countries. Shipping is free in the United States, and varies between$3.95 to $6.95 for other countries. You can find all the information on their support page.
Our Toddler Vs. The Koala Crate: The Farm Box Review in May 2020
I no longer have any children in the toddler age group; all of my children are teenagers. (Of course, they sometimes act like toddlers, but that’s a different story…) Therefore, I had to rely on the help of one of our Friends of Fractus to review the crate. His daughter is just over three years old.
I had received A LOT of crates over the end of 2019 into 2020 and fell behind on getting families to review them. He had been furloughed in April and found himself with time and interest to play with his daughter. Therefore this is the first of many of these reviews he’ll be doing for Fractus.
I interviewed him – the father, not the toddler :) – to get his take on the crate quality, entertainment value and educational value. All of the opinions in the following section are from him and his daughter – unmodified.
The Crate Theme Was "The Farm" - May 2020 Review
The theme for our month was farm related. Upon opening the box, my first impression was how well packed and organized the box was. I pulled out the instructions and let my 3 1/2 year old daughter look at them- along with the magazine that’s included in every crate.
Overall, I thought the entire box was highly engaging for my daughter.
First project - the vegetable garden
Each Crate comes with a few different projects. The first one we tackled was the vegetable garden. You can see the completed ‘garden’ below:
We started the vegetable garden activity by having my daughter look at the directions. Younger toddlers will like to look at the instructions but probably will need a parent to read it to them.
The instructions are clear and easy to read:
My toddler started by sorting all the beads into piles of matching beads. She grabbed the pipe cleaner and was able to follow the directions to make the “plant”. The first two were a little challenging to get the beads onto the pipe cleaner. She struggled but was able to get them on. This was a great activity for her to work on her fine motor skills.
Once she completed constructing the veggies, she put them in the box and matched up the stickers with the vegetable type. If you have a toddler, you’ll know how important stickers are to every project!
Next Toddler Crate Activity - -Barnyard Puppets!
Our second activity was called Barnyard Puppets. She found everything about this to be really fun – from playing with the finger puppets to putting the stickers on the animals.
The kit comes with four finger puppets and all the materials required to make them into barnyard animals:
She looked closely at each of the puppets and did her best to match up how they all looked on the instructions. She played with these for a good 15 min before moving onto the barn tote.
The barn tote is a well-made cardboard “barn” when put together. On the inside, it’s a play area for the animal puppets.
She was able to apply all of the Velcro stickers to the barn in the correct spot. She struggled with and need some help folding up the tote.
After my wife and I helped her fold it up she wanted it unfolded to play with the animals. After she was done playing, we folded it up and she observed that she could put all of her animals and vegetable garden inside the barn.
This was another great crate and completely age-appropriate and fun for my 3.5-year-old. The directions are well written and the pictures made it easy for my daughter to follow with limited help. It was a great product for her to learn to follow directions even though she cannot read yet.
The Verdict: This Koala Crate Is Fun and Educational
5 out of 5
Our tester family thought the crate was a lot of fun. There’s replay value for his toddler, and it allowed the two of them to spend some quality time together having a good afternoon. Really, what more can you ask out of a $30 monthly subscription box?
We hope you enjoyed this review. If the Koala Crate sounds like something your toddler might enjoy, head over to KiwiCo for more information.