Price: $25.00

Website Description of Box: “Each crate is carefully thought out to provide you with all the materials and tools you need to help your child learn and meet their developmental milestones.  The three included activities are designed by an educator and mother of a toddler and all have been kid-tested and APPROVED! ”

Shipping: $5 for US

Ships to: US

This was a really fun and cool box that I got to try out with my little mini, Norah. I haven’t done a box with her in a while, so I was really excited when we received the opportunity to have a box that is not only geared at educating toddlers but, with fun things for us to do together. The working mom guilt can be really strong some days for me. As much as I know it’s what is good for my family, I’m still hard on myself. So having this box filled with fun things to do with my daughter means a lot to me.

The first thing I took notice of in this box was this really helpful Milestone Checklist from the CDC for ages 3 to 5.  I used to obsessively check this list out when Norah was an infant, especially since I was a first-time mom and had no clue what I was doing. I found comfort in being able to know if she was on target for the development milestones.  I know it could also be a source of stress for parents but, I’m definitely the type who needs to know all the information.

I find these guidelines to be pretty accurate but, I always recommend checking with your child’s pediatrician if you have any developmental concerns.

I paid attention to the three years guideline since it was most applicable to my child. Pretty cool to be able to see all the things she should be doing!

The box comes with a guideline of what you can expect the box to contain.  I really appreciated how everything was so detailed, so I knew how long each activity would take to set up.

We are currently reviewing the “Fall Box” which I was so excited for. I love all things Fall and I knew Norah would as well!

Here’s some information on some of the activities we were given to complete in the box. As mentioned above, not only does it tell you about how long the activities take to set up or make, but it also gives you a scale of how messy each one is!

The first activity I will talk about is the sensory bin activity. This one was Norah’s favorite by far, and the one we spent the most time on.

The box contained all these really cool items to put in a sensory bin! I loved that there were some fall items in there too so it stuck to the theme. That was really creative and not something I would have immediately thought to do. I have definitely heard of sensory bins before but, unfortunately, I had not made one for my daughter before. I’m really glad this box had all the items for her first one since I had been meaning to make one for a while.

Here’s a  close up of some of the items. The acorns were super cute and a nice touch!

The box also had some adorable fall leaves to put into the sensory bin. One of the activities once the bin was constructed, was to have your child guess different items in the sensory bin. Norah loved the acorns the most, and she had a lot of fun picking them up with the tongs that were provided in the box.

One thing I did find kind of strange was the rice that the box contained. It’s a flavorful rice, so the instructions wanted you to get the rice wet first, so that way the flavors could be pre-mixed in once you shook the bag to spread the seasoning out evenly. I think it should have just included plain rice but, it wasn’t a huge deal to me. It did mention to replace the rice with plain or brown if your child has any allergies or is sensitive to smells. I liked that the box gave parents options.

I, unfortunately, forgot to pre-make the rice, since I read the instructions a few hours before creating the bin, and completely forgot to do that in the midst of getting it all together! However, once I dumped it all in the bin, it was no big deal. Norah does not have any allergies or sensitivities to the smell, so she was good with it!

Norah absolutely loved this activity and we spent quite a bit of time with it! I’m already thinking of different things I can add to the bin to keep her busy with it.

The hand grabber/tongs that came in the box were somewhat hard to use. That was something Norah struggled with but, I showed her how to use them a couple of times but, she got it down after that.

The second activity we completed was using the tracing cards we received to outline different patterns, shapes, and lines.  The main idea of the cards was that “Green Means Go” so when a child see that on a stop light – it means to go! I explained that to Norah, but, I’m not sure if she will remember it.

Norah loved drawing on the clear erase cover that came in the box, and was amazed at how the ink from the marker disappeared with the eraser provided! Although she did enjoy erasing the pen more than drawing, she wanted to copy me and draw out different shapes. I also took the time to remind her about sharing and how we would each get to take turns.

The last activity we completed in this box was the arts and craft portion. This activity included creating a fall theme suncatcher. I loved this idea, and again, it’s not something I would have come up with on my own! It was made up of some simple supplies but, I thought it was really great how Toddler Crates supplied all of it.

Norah was most impressed with how the colors could change, and we could make each one different, depending on how we put the tissue paper together. It wasn’t incredibly messy which wouldn’t have mattered either way. I mean, if you have a toddler, you’re simply prepared for a mess anyway!

I put all the materials on a baking pan, because never having used bleeding tissue paper before, I wasn’t sure how much it would stain. I’m really glad I did since it does bleed quite a bit! I won’t give away entirely how to do the craft but, you definitely can be pretty creative with this project. I’m glad that Norah got into it since I wasn’t sure how much patience she would have.

Norah’s favorite part was sticking on the paper on the coffee filters. She loved all the colors as well with orange being her favorite. We decided to only create two of them and leave the rest of the supplies for another day.

Our final product turned out pretty good! I was impressed with how nice they looked.

Overall

Overall, I thought this box was pretty perfect for a toddler. I definitely would make sure your child is 3 years old, or just about 3 to really get the full use out of it. The cool part about this box is it not only included several activities but, all of them were different and not repetitive at all. I also liked how each activity seemed to stimulate or develop a different part of the brain for children to use. There were activities to develop fine motor skills, encourage creativity and learning, and they were also really fun.  I would highly recommend this box to parents who are looking to enrich their toddler-age children’s learning and give them new things to do each month.

Give Tinkering Toddler Crates a try today! Use Code THEREVIEWGIRLS5 for $5 off any crate or subscription! 

 

This box was sent to us free in exchange for a review.  View our Disclosure to learn more about our process.  This post may contain referral/affiliate links. If you buy something, The Review Girls may earn a commission.