Cooper Kit Subscription Box Review – Spring 2015

The Cooper Kit is a quarterly subscription box specifically for fathers and their children to spend quality time playing, building, and learning together. I spend loads and loads of time doing little crafts and activities with the kids – I am so happy there’s a kit out there for dads to do the same! Cooper & Kid is on a mission to “Make Dads cooler than Moms.” I don’t really think that’s too difficult, but their Cooper Kit certainly helps!

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

The Subscription Box: The Cooper Kit by Cooper & Kid

The Cost: $65 per quarter + $13 shipping = $78 total per box

The Products: Each box contains 6-9 activities for fathers and their children (age 5-9) to complete together, plus additional online resources.

Ships to: US for $13

This quarter’s theme is “Super Luminal!” It’s a clever blending of the traditional Superhero theme with a little light science snuck in for extra awesomeness! This is the booklet they send with the shipment, and I have to say, it’s really thorough! It’s nice and long, has great graphics and printing, and is generally what you would call “Dad-proof” in terms of making sure everything is really well explained. Now if they would just read the instructions!

The website states that:

“Each Cooper Kit contains multiple curated products and activities designed to enrich your quality time with your children (and have a good time while doing it), as well as:
*A shipping box that turns into a toy!
*An activity book that guides you through the theme and the contents of the box
*A bedtime story
*A separate website of related digital resources
*Links to even MORE theme-related activities that are ëBeyond the Boxí
*Parenting and topical links to resources that are ëJust for Dadí
*A themed dinner menu with recipes (guys are doing a ton of cooking for the family these days)”

Moreover, Cooper Kit promises to make memories, and to be:
“*Educational via discovery
*Hands on building
*Themed for both Dads and kids
*Multi-activity (6-9 activities)
*Geography neutral (i.e. no snow required)
*Gender neutral (for the kids)
*A catalyst for self-expression and creativity
*Both nostalgic and current”

That’s a lot of promises! Let’s see how they deliver…

First, the picture of the box, above, is the first amazing project in this shipment. My husband and the kids cut it all up and turned it into a holographic projector somehow! I am also absolutely thrilled that Cooper & Kid turns every box into a toy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a photograph of the hologram. He took some videos of the kids (decked out in their superhero costumes) on his phone, stuck it in the projector they made, and a little hologram popped up inside! It was SO AWESOME!

Cooper Kit thoughtfully included this packet of paper cut-outs that can be used to create superhero swag, suck as a mask and cuffs. Thanks to subscription boxes and my childrens’ natural thespian tendencies, they already have a ton of superhero garb, so it wasn’t really used. I do appreciate the inclusion, though!

The Illuminating World of Light with Max Axiom, Super Scientist – Value $7.48

My kids love sharing comic books / graphic novels with their Dad! They dug right into this! Plus I love that it is secretly a science book written in graphic novel format. It got great reviews on Amazon, too!

Glowing slime! This is a really fun activity and a great fit for this box. Unfortunately, my kids have made so much slime recently thanks to subscription boxes that they actually groaned aloud when my husband pulled this from the box. Ha! I think they’re getting a little spoiled. In any case, we will save this for the next time we need slime. It actually comes up way more often than I would like.

Star Wars Science Mini Lightsaber Tech Lab – Value $20

A lightsaber kit! Needless to say, this inclusion was a huge hit!

This is the finished lightsaber with the purple crystal inserted. They loved this! I’ve seen it in the hands of everyone from Anakin Skywalker to Jessie from Toy Story! Of course, what I liked best about this is that again, it snuck in some light science. There are four different color crystals that can be used to change the color of the lightsaber, plus they included two lenses that can replace the saber portion of the lightsaber to refract the colored light in different ways. Too cool!

A solar powered car! This is seriously wicked cool. What would a box about light science be without something solar powered?

Here it is completed. It runs off solar power, but it also has a battery option for rainy days. It’s pretty quick, too! The only issue we had with this was that it was really confusing to put together. In other words, Mommy had to do it.

I took this picture before I really understood what everything was in the box, and what it was to be used for. On the left is some glue that is to be used in the slime making. On the right is a blank CD in a case that was used in making the holographic projector AND in making the next project (below). There were also some glitter pens included (not pictured).

This was the last project – making a suncatcher! I think it turned out pretty great! I also think it’s awesome that they included fishing line to hang the suncatcher. Using fishing line in a craft is such a Dad thing to do! I remember when we were little we used to raid my Dad’s fishing line all the time when we needed unbreakable string!

Verdict: For the second quarter in a row, Cooper Kit completely delivered on all its promises! We love Cooper Kit!

Last quarter, I was a brand new reviewer for MSA, and I was anxious to turn my reviews around quickly. I kind of forced the boys to do everything all at once in a weekend! This quarter, I let them play with the kit as long as they wanted, and it really did last all quarter! They are still playing with things they made / received back in April! Most everything was a hit, and I think most children (and Dads) would enjoy everything that was included. I especially loved the inclusion of small doses of science this quarter. BUT, my favorite part of every Cooper Kit is seeing the kids and my husband spend some good quality time together (and getting a break myself is an added bonus).

What do you think of Cooper Kit?