Atlas Crate is the newest subscription box from parent company KiwiCo. This box is designed to spark the curiosity and sense of adventure in children ages 6-11 and help them become citizens of the world. Each month they will deliver materials and instructions to provide hands-on experiences to help them develop their sense of cultural awareness.
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Cricket Crate is for 24-36-month-olds, Koala Crate is for 3-4-year-olds, Kiwi Crate is for 5-8-year-olds, and Doodle Crate, Tinker Crate for 9-16+-year-olds, and Atlas Crate for 6-11-year-olds. There really is something for every age with this company.
This review is of the $19.95 a month Atlas Crate box, for 6-11-year-olds.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Atlas Crate
The Subscription Box: Atlas Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping
The Products: Crafts and DIY projects for kids, with supplemental learning kits, booklets, and activities. Crates are filled with materials and inspiration to encourage creativity and curiosity about the world.
Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $6.95 per month
Atlas Crate January 2019 Review
The country we explored this month was Mexico and we received this envelope full of information. I love the greeting in another language and the detail of the string closure on the back, it makes it just a smidge more exciting being able to physically open this!
This envelope unfolded to show us a contents list and several pages to add to our Adventure Book. Everything in this box is incredibly organized and nicely packaged making it easy to locate it all!
We received this Adventure Book in our first box and this month they gave us this Mexico sticker to add to the front of it. The rings of the book open up so that we can add more pages as we receive them.
Our first box was based on the World and contained cards for each of the continents. This time we were able to locate the continent in our book and add our pages behind it.
These cards are bright and vibrant and full of tons of information about Mexico on each side. I especially enjoy the fun facts page since we always learn something new!
They also included some fun activities such as a yarn painting and directions for a dance as well as a recipe for guacamole. Yum!
The first activity was to make hojalata (tin) art and they provided all of the materials we needed including three tin shapes (this was very thin, just a bit stiffer than tin foil!), paint, and a brush.
We placed our tin shapes on top of the foam piece they gave us and then used the wooden stylus to add some designs and texture to our tin.
Then we flipped the pieces over and the areas where we had pressed down were now raised and ready to paint!
The paint colors were really pretty and vibrant, although they showed a lot of brush marks so I didn't achieve as smooth or bold of a look as I wanted, especially since I was distracted trying to supervise the kiddos!
We let them dry overnight and then used the little glue dots that they provided to hang them on the windows of our door. I love that this is an art form that we can definitely recreate on our own again now that we are aware of it!
They provided a little bit of information about how hojalata art is used in Mexico, but I can't help wishing we had just a tad more background information on what it is and where it originated!
The next activity was to make our own pinata! This was not a papier mache project, which really impressed me and the design of this one is part of what makes KiwiCo so unique! The instructions were clear and easy to follow and they provided everything we needed.
First, we folded all of the little yellow lines along the marked purple lines in order to crease them.
We took a few of the tissue strips, folded them in half and then twisted them together at the center and placed them on the orange rectangle. We used the orange stickers they provided to secure those and then we flipped our yellow piece over to the green side.
My daughter glued along the white lines while I added the tissue paper fringe on top.
We repeated the gluing and adding of fringe for each line using two fringe pieces for the bottom line and just one for the top two lines. Then I flipped it over and trimmed the excess paper that was sticking off the sides.
Then we added the white foam strips to the white line that was marked on the edge and folded it up to secure it into a cone shape.
The second one went a little smoother since I knew more of what I was doing. But I lost my helper about halfway through and had to complete the rest of the cones by myself until I had seven of them.
Next, it was time to assemble the base. I connected the two pieces at the hole using the provided brads.
I connected all of the holes around the base this way until I just had the front flap left.
Once I folded that flap, I had the form of the base with the lid still open. The little tabs on the side were there to add our string for hanging the pinata when it was done and they were secured by making sure the metal ends were flat against the sides.
Next, we had to add all of our cones. Each cone had two little tabs on the bottom that fit into the little holes all around the base. Then we were to fold them back and secure them with the orange stickers.
This was super tricky and frustrating because the orange stickers weren't much larger than the tabs and they weren't very sticky. I finally ended up just grabbing a roll of scotch tape and securing them all that way so they would stop falling off as I added them! Once I did that, it felt very secure, so it was nothing to do with the overall design, just a flaw in the orange stickers I guess!
I tucked in the tabs at the top and the pinata was finished and ready to use as a decoration!
If we do want to fill it up with treats and use it as an actual pinata, they provided little pieces of foam adhesive to use to secure the top of the base once we have filled it. They also gave us instructions on how to play the game. I have no idea how this will hold up after being hit with a stick, but I thought it was a really unique and well thought out way to create our pinata and way easier to fill than the store bought ones!
Verdict: I love that Atlas Crate follows the same format each month and we know somewhat what to expect, although the theme and activities are always a fun surprise. These projects are always so well thought out and I love that we get just a taste of other cultures at a level that is engaging enough for a child, although sometimes I wish the activities came with just a bit more background information or even some sort of explanation for why they felt it was important enough or representative enough of the culture to include it in this box. I do think that you get a good value with this box at $19.95 plus free shipping for the fun activities and educational information that they provide!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, it is likely since this is a fairly new subscription, but keep this in mind- from Kiwi Co:
Crates are assigned each month based on availability and your crate history - not all subscribers receive the same theme each month.
Check out all of our KiwiCo reviews and more boxes for ages 5-8 and ages 9-12 in the Kids Subscription Box List!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of Atlas Crate?
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