Crayola® CIY Box is a subscription box that offers create it yourself (CIY) crafts and art projects for kids 10+ and adults of all ages (though for some of the crafts, your littles might need adult help).
Each box, curated by the colorful minds at Crayola®, you will receive supplies and instructions for two full craft projects. You may also receive additional treats, deals, and surprises.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Crayola® CIY Box
The Subscription box: Crayola® CIY Box
The Cost: $37.99 per month + $2.99 shipping. Save with 3, 6, and 12-month subscriptions. Receive free shipping on 6 and 12-month subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 20% off your first box!
CODE: MSA20
The Products: The Crayola® CIY Box™ is a monthly subscription box with supplies and instructions for 2 full crafts plus 1 bonus craft challenge, as well as fun treats, deals, or surprises. Every box includes Crayola® products, additional craft supplies, and an instruction booklet to achieve Instagram-worthy projects.
Ships to: the U.S. only
Good to know: All of the items included in the CRAYOLA® CIY BOX are safe and non-toxic. They even encourage you to learn more about how to ensure safe and successful arts & crafts experiences by visiting their Craft Safety Guide. This website also provides specific information about the proper use of individual Crayola® products.
Crayola ® CIY Box “Marble Madness” March 2019 Review
As you might expect from a company that has been around for 134 years, the first thing included in the box is a fantastically executed instruction booklet, clearly done by professionals.
The first page includes a note from the team that curates this box, and the second includes a material list as well as a list of other materials that you will need to supply yourself. For these projects, I needed to have a few disposable cups, water, craft sticks or plastic spoons for stirring, and some wax or newspaper to craft on. Certainly, all things available at my home! A link is also provided to their website, where there are additional resources to compliment this box (templates, design ideas, and how-to instruction videos).
The next few pages provide illustrations and instructions to create the first craft, a marble clock.
Craft two is a bit freer form and is a marble treasure dish.
Finally, the end of the booklet includes the bonus challenge craft, that can be made from items around your house and some of your remaining materials from the first two crafts.
The booklet ends with some wash and care tips for the Crayola® art supplies that were included and some links to social media outlets where you can share your finished goods.
Now… let’s see what else is in the box!
The Supplies
Crayola® Model Magic Modeling Compound (5, 1oz packs) – Buy 75-1oz packs here for $36.99
Our versatile, nontoxic formulas provide parents and teachers with a safe and economical option for free play, school art projects, and slime crafts. Forget the hot oven or kiln; with Model Magic, simply let your kids' sculpture air dry ‘til completion. Take their art projects one step further by using on one of our Model Magic finishes, like the glossy or gold glimmer glaze. These kid-friendly glazes not only add extra dazzle to their creations but helps protect them, too. Crayola® Model Magic® is a truly versatile clay-like modeling compound. Parents will especially love this product, thanks to its mess-free and crumble-free formula. With Model Magic®, playtime and clean-up couldn't be easier.
Crayola® Washable Kids Paint (4, 2oz bottles) – Buy 3-8oz bottles for $6.99
Bright, bold paint formulated to wash easily from skin and clothing.
Additional Crafting Materials
Some additional supplies were included for the crafts. These supplies included a wooden circle with a drilled hole, a clock mechanism kit, and 1 Crayola® paintbrush.
Bonus: Crayola® Permanent Marker and Mocard Sticky Notes – Buy 12 markers for $8.49
Inside of the large purple organza sack, I found 2 small books of beautiful Mocard designed sticky notes (the 2” x 2” size) and a flyer for the “take note!” permanent markers designed by Crayola®. I received the color “infinite oasis”, and I would directly compare it to a sharpie. It writes on coated paper, photos, fabric, canvas, metal, plastic, and wood.
OK – it’ time to craft! I’m going to be doing all of these crafts with my 3-year-old son, so I’m not sure how Pinterest worthy they are going to end up, but once he saw the Crayola® logo there was no way I was going to get away with doing these crafts without his help! He told me that he’s an “expert” painter – we shall see!
Craft 1: Marble Clock
After learning this marbled painting technique, you’ll want to beautify any surface by applying Crayola® washable kids’ paint. Use this fun paint pour technique to create a trendy clock. After swirling paint on a wood circle, add your clock mechanism. Then add numbers with Silver Crayola ® Washable Paint. It’ll take no time to start telling the time!
To begin, I simply poured about half of each of the paint bottles (white, blue, red, and silver) into their own disposable cup. I then added a little bit of water to thin the paint down a bit, so that it would run easily over the wooden clock surface.
Then, I let my son take turns pouring the watered-down paint into another cup. I’d instruct him to pour a little in, then a little of another color, and so on until all of the paint was used and layered into the cup.
Next, I asked my son to dump the paint onto the wooden clock while I was holding it. I then tilted the clock back and forth (over newspaper) until the paint had run all over the wood and covered every bare spot. I loved the effect already, especially with the shimmery silver flecks from the metallic paint.
Now we must let it dry overnight…. And clean up…
I was really pleased with how easily this paint wiped off our skin, his clothes, and my kitchen table. This was a bit messy, but my son loved pouring and playing with the paint so it was worth a little bit of clean up.
The final step is to assemble the clock mechanism and add the numbers. Since I have horrible writing, I decided that I liked my clock too much to muck it up with ugly writing and remembered that I had a few gold glitter stick-on numbers in my scrapbooking kit. I simply applied the numbers to the dried face and added in the mechanism which took me less than 5 minutes. I'm really pleased with how this clock turned out! I think I'm going to hang it in my son's playroom since we made it together and I never know what time it is when I'm in there!
Craft 2: Marble Treasure Dish
You will swirl, squish, and roll Crayola® Model Magic ® to create a treasure disk with a fantastic marble look. Use it to store all your favorite treasures and trinkets.
First, I divided out my “dough” into little balls, and my son and I worked on wax paper to roll “snakes.” We then took a group of our snakes and twisted them together.
Here’s a photo of my son working hard on his design!
We went a little overboard as you can see and worked the colors too much. The first one we did end up almost solid green, so we just kept going with it. This compound is fun to work with and did not make a mess, which was awesome – but I do think that to really get a professional quality there is probably a learning curve and this is the first time I’ve worked with this material. It is an easy dough to work with and blends easily (maybe too easily!) if you are going for a solid color look.
My son got the idea to use some of our left-over clock paint to color some of our solid green, so I let him. He did the same thing, just dumping the paint onto the compound in the same way he dumped it on the wood. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it ended up totally fine.
We ended up using all of our Model Magic® to create these 5 little shapes. I’m not sure that they’re worthy of internet posting, but we sure had fun making them!
And here is a close up of our bounty. The first two are just the dried Model Magic ® and the last three have the paint drizzled onto them. These took about a day to dry, and their color held fairly true to form, just darkening slightly as you can see from the photos. I could totally paint them or finish them differently if I want to, but I think I like how simple they are. In fact, they might end up as "Grandma" gifts for Easter. When dry, this didn't feel like a standard hardened clay but instead is more of a dense foam. I can indent my finger, and it pops back out after I press – if that helps to give you an idea of the texture when dry. Also, these are very lightweight. I think this material would be great to use to make ornaments or other holiday decorations, you can roll it out and use cookie cutters to shape the material. There was very little shrinkage or shape change as it dried as well, I think ill be giving it another try in the future!
Verdict: The Crayola® CIY Box was just what I would have expected. I think that the materials included were fun and of high quality. I loved that these crafts could be beautiful (if you were doing them alone as a crafty adult) or simple (if you were doing them with a small child). Although I have used Crayola® products my entire life, it was fun being introduced to some new crafting techniques using materials that I wasn’t experienced with. If you are paying month to month, this box costs $40.98 ($37.99 per month + $2.99 shipping), and since it’s difficult to quantify the exact value of the materials instructions, breaking it down simply you’re paying $20.49 per craft. While you might be able to piece mill the craft together for less than that, the value is in the fun of getting all the materials and inspiration delivered to your door to be able to craft with your family. I was pleased with this box and can’t wait to see what next month brings!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. If you order today your first box will be the May box.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 20% off your first box!
CODE: MSA20
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