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Tadpole Crate “Alphabet Play” Review + Coupon – November 2018

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Closed Box

Tadpole Crate by KiwiCo
5 overall rating
1 Ratings | 0 Reviews

Tadpole Crate, previously called “Cricket Crate”, is the toddler subscription box offering from KiwiCo, designed for hands-on learning and fun every month!

KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Tadpole Crate is for 0-36 months, Koala Crate for ages 3-4, Kiwi Crate for ages 5-8, Atlas Crate for ages 6-11, and Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate are for ages 9-16 and up.

This review is of the $19.95 a month Tadpole Crate for kids ages 0-36 months.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Opened Box

This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - All Items Unboxed

About Tadpole Crate

The Subscription Box: Tadpole Crate

The Cost: $19.95 a month + free shipping

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save 60% off your first month! No coupon required, just use this link

ACTIVE DEAL: Save 40% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.

The Products: 2-3 fun and developmentally appropriate projects, a magazine, online resources and a board book for you and your toddler!

Ships to: US

Tadpole Crate "Alphabet Play" November Box Review

My family was excited to review this month's, Tadpole Crate! KiwiCo's teaching methodology perfectly aligns with how my kids learn today. My son is in early pre-school and goes to a school focused on hands-on and project-based learning. Age-wise, he’s in between the Tadpole and Koala crates. His big sister, my 2nd-grader, was happy to assist her little brother with the projects.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Wonder Magazine Front

This month’s theme is “Alphabet Play” where kids learn about letter and sound recognition through the simple and age-appropriate projects.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Wonder Magazine Page 1

Tadpole Crate includes Wonder Magazine which is full of information, tips and fun activities related to the month’s theme.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Wonder Magazine Page 2

The magazine highlights the activities and includes information on how to engage your children along with additional learning resources.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Wonder Magazine Page 3

Wonder Magazine also includes additional DIY activities sometimes requiring supplies not included in the box. It’s a great way to continue the fun after the projects are complete.

This Tadpole Crate includes two fun and engaging projects: Alphabet Munch and Felt Letter Shapes. Alphabet Munch builds developmental skills including alphabet knowledge, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and problem-solving. Felt Letter Shapes focuses on letter-identification, problem-solving, fine motor skills and matching. Included are detailed instructions and everything needed for both projects.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Alphabet Munch Materials

Here are the materials for the Alphabet Munch project. It includes tokens, a bank to hold the tokens and a board book “Olive Gobbles the Alphabet”. Each token has a letter on one side and a food item on the other side.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Felt Letter Shapes Materials

Here are the materials for the Felt Letter Shapes project. It includes felt pieces to learn how letters are formed and an alphabet key that shows how the letters are built.

Let’s get started with Alphabet Munch!

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Alphabet Munch Instructions

In this activity, children have fun feeding Olive the frog by searching for particular letters or food items and putting the tokens in the bank. For more fun, families can follow along with the story “Olive Gobbles the Alphabets” and when Olive eats a letter, your child can find the matching token and feed it to the bank.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Alphabet Munch 1

My son loved playing this game! I was surprised at how many letters he could identify when we’ve been primarily focused on learning colors and numbers.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Alphabet Munch 2

Even though he could recognize a few letters, he much preferred to point out the food items. He could recognize the majority of the foods and loved feeding Olive the frog the food.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Alphabet Munch 3

The next day, he wanted to play the game again. This time feeding Olive and joyfully making frog sounds. We will continue to play this game focusing on the letters as he’s able to identify more.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Felt Letter Shapes Instructions

In this activity, your child can practice forming letters using the felt pieces and the alphabet key. This is also a fun way to practice letter identification.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Felt Letter Shapes 1

My son could not yet grasp the concept of this activity. He got excited when I formed letters he recognized, like the letter ‘B’, but was otherwise was disinterested.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Felt Letter Shapes 2

My daughter, on the other hand, had fun forming words and letters. The intention is to form one or two letters at a time. So, when she went to form whole words and phrases, she quickly ran out of felt pieces and lost interest.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Felt Letter Shapes 3

My son will soon be learning to recognize all letters of the alphabet and how to form letters and write words. I’m sure we will find this activity useful in the future.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Book 1

Tadpole Crate includes a board book every month that goes along with the theme of the box. In “Olive Gobbles the Alphabet”, Olive the frog is hungry for ABCs. We follow along with Olive throughout the day as she gobbles up the alphabet.

Tadpole Alphabet Play November 2018 - Book 2

This is likely my son’s favorite tadpole board book. He keeps bringing it to me to read and loves mimicking Olive as she chomps down on the letters. He loves singing the alphabet and following along.

Verdict: This Tadpole Crate by KiwiCo was a lot of fun! The Alphabet Munch activity was developmentally appropriate for my son while we found the Felt Letter Shapes activity a bit advanced for him. Like other Tadpole crates, we identified skills that he has mastered and other skills that we can continue to develop. This is one of the things I love best about these crates – they grow with your child! Similar to other KiwiCo boxes, I found the materials in the Tadpole Crate to be high quality and sturdy. The project instructions were clear, age-appropriate and easy to follow. Best of all, my son had fun while learning and developing new skills. He really enjoyed the Alphabet Munch activity and since the items are durable and reusable, we can continue having fun even after the projects are complete. The cost of this box is only $19.95 and I think it’s well worth the price!

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, sign up now for the December box.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save 60% off your first month! No coupon required, just use this link

ACTIVE DEAL: Save 40% off your first box! No coupon needed - just use this link.

Check out all of our KiwiCo Crate reviews and the Kids Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

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"Tadpole Crate delivers information, inspiration, and products that support your child's healthy development and lifelong learning." Each box contains an age-specific product, a board book, Wonder magazine, and online resources. Currently this box is only available in a 3-month package for newborns ... read more.
Shatae Hutchinson
Shatae Hutchinson
Hi, I’m Shatae; pronounced shhh-tay! I work in IT Healthcare, I’m married to my high school sweetheart and we have 2 cool kids. I am obsessed with black culture, lifestyle, travel and art made by and featuring women of color. I also love trendy plus-size fashion and accessories, eclectic and bohemian home décor and all things self-care, mental health and fitness. My favorite box is Izzy & Liv’s Brown Sugar Box; a monthly box offering tees, accessories and lifestyle products designed for black women. I also subscribe to TheSelfCareBox, FabFitFun, CauseBox and Merkaela. Being a wife and full-time working mom, subscription boxes are one of the few things that are just for me! They are fun, convenient, reasonably priced and full of surprises.

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4 comments

StaceStace

Was the book included or did you pay the extra $9.95 for the Upgrade to Deluxe to add a specially curated book to complement the crate theme?

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Shatae

The book was included in the box – no upgrade.

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SKD

We got this box and love it. It’s only our second one but I’m blown away with the quality and the magazine with other learning activities is fantastic.

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Shatae

I agree! These boxes are pretty awesome!

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