Atlas Crate is a subscription box for kids 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 Atlas Crate will deliver materials and instructions to provide hands-on experiences to help kids develop their sense of cultural awareness.
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups:
- Panda Crate for 0-24-month-olds,
- Koala Crate for 2-4-year-olds,
- Kiwi Crate for 5-8-year-olds,
- Atlas Crate for 6-11-year-olds,
- Doodle Crate and Tinker Crate for 9-16+-year-olds,
- Eureka Crate and Maker Crate for ages 14 and up.
There really is something for every age with this company!
This review is of the $19.95/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. Save with longer subscriptions.
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: The U.S. for free, Canada for $3.95 per month, and worldwide from $4.95-$6.95
Atlas Crate March 2020 "Thailand" Review
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Our country this month is one that I was incredibly excited to see and experience with my kids. I actually lived in Thailand with my family when I was in elementary school for three years and I have such fond memories of the amazing culture and my time there! On the front of this airmail envelope is a Thai greeting and inside there is a ton of information about Thailand. On the bottom of the envelope, there is a list of what is included in our crate and a fun Atlas Quest to complete using our newfound knowledge after exploring this month's country.
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In our first box, which was based on the world, we received an Adventure Book that contained cards for each of the continents and we are able to add to it each month as we receive cards for each of the new countries. They also provide a sticker for us to add to it as well which is a fun way to track our travels! Everything in this box is incredibly organized and nicely packaged making it easy to locate it all.
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The cards for our adventure book are bright, vibrant, and full of tons of information about Thailand on either side. We had some great conversations about the floating markets and elephants, all of which I had some added first-hand knowledge to contribute, which made it even more exciting than usual.
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While most of the pages contain information for us to read, there are always a few "do" pages that provide instructions on activities related to the country. This month they provided directions for a game called Len Choa which I'm not familiar with and a recipe for Pad Thai, which I am very familiar with. I may just have to make some this week, although I do already have my own recipe!
Activity #1: Krathong
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Our first activity was to make a floating Krathong which is used to celebrate Loy Krathong at the end of the rainy season. The idea is that you light a candle and then set it afloat. If your candle is still lit then you will have good luck!
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Inside were several directions that were clear, detailed, and broken down into sections to make it easy to follow along with.
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Our first step was to tear off the outer pieces of this green foam shape we received and then fold each section down to form triangles around the outside.
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Then my daughter added a little green triangle to the base of each of the larger triangles to hold the pieces together.
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To form the petals of our Krathong we had to pick a color and then slide the tabs into the little slots on each petal. Then we stuck each section in a circle around our green piece which was sticky after removing the white paper in the center.
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Next, we added a second layer of petals. We folded up the petals and then stuck them in between the others using sticky foam pieces.
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My daughter placed the yellow foam circle into the center and then she wrapped up the green piece into a circle and we used some little sticky foam pieces to stick it down into the center.
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Now it was time to make the candle. They provided this little fabric piece that we pressed into the center of a short straw and it actually looked a lot like a flame (see below). We also made a little flag and sparkler, too.
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The last step was to add our candle, flag, and sparkler to the holes in the base of our Krathong for decoration.
Here is our finished Krathong. Normally you release it into a body of water, and while ours will be able to float, it wouldn't be very eco-friendly to let it go as you normally would. Instead, it will make a nice spring decoration with its bright and cheery colors!
Activity #2: Shadow Puppet Theater
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Our next project was to make a shadow puppet theater which is based on the Thai style of puppetry called nang talung. They provided 5 different animal puppets and materials to make a screen.
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The directions were easy to follow and separated into sections again.
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The first step was to add the brown foam stickers to these wooden pieces and then slide them together.
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Then we had to add the frame to our screen. They provided this translucent sheet, similar to parchment paper, but thicker, and we secured the top and bottom frame pieces using small gold brads.
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We added the stand pieces and side strips to our screen using more brads to hold everything in place.
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To prepare our puppet stands we had to place these foam stickers on the ends of these cardboard rectangles.
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Then we simply inserted these little sticks through the two holes in each animal and then stuck the stick into the little foam base.
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Here are the rest of our puppets all ready to go.
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They were excited to play with their puppets!
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They provided a little stand that we simply had to fold up along with two little lights which were nice and bright.
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To turn it into a shadow theater we simply shined our lights on the figures from behind and their shadows appeared at the front of the theater. So cute!
The kids were very excited to put on a show for my husband and I. This video is their first run. In case you're wondering what she's saying, she's talking about a basilisk lizard that can run on water (we watch a lot of Kratt Brothers around here!). They had a lot of fun with this one and I think they might make some more videos to send to their grandparents and cousins since we won't be able to see them anytime soon!
Verdict: Well I might be a little bit biased about the country we visited with this month's Atlas Crate box, but I think this was a really cool one! The projects were well organized with easy to follow directions and I thought they did a great job of highlighting a lot of the interesting parts of Thai culture. I really loved the puppet theater that we made and how much creativity was encouraged through this project, plus the fact that it was a shadow theater made it even more unique and fun! I thought this was another great box for $19.95 + free shipping and I had so much fun talking about Thailand with my kiddos!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? From KiwiCo:
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 the best subscription boxes for kids!
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