Kiwi Crate

Liam loves to draw and paint, but crafts are his favorite.  He pours over my crafting books and asks to make everything in it.  I have to say that this annoys me a bit because it is never at a good time and I never have all the supplies he needs, and lets be honest the mess that has to be cleaned up is not fun. I live a half hour from Walmart and Michael's so planning a craft takes quite a bit of time and energy that, with a newborn, I just don't have the time for.  But then I saw a review of Kiwi Crate on Wendolonia and knew that this was right up our alley.

The crate ships to your house once a month and it is packed full of supplies to make a themed craft.  The crate is intended for one child but there is an option for a sibling add on.  Anticipating fights, I opted for this.  Our crate arrived last Monday and the boys had to wait until Wednesday (a half day of school for Liam) to open ours.  This month's theme was growing gardens and we got an activity for planting seeds and one for decorating a flower pot.

I loved that the our first crate came with scissors (we can never find ours) and they are nice ones too, Fiskars.  Each activity in the box comes with clearly laid out step-by-step directions and a parent involvement rating.  This box happened to have a high level of involvement.  

We got to work planting our seeds. 

The boys each hung a clear bag in the window with suction cups and counted out soil pellets for each section in their bag.  This was great practice in counting for Jack.  

We added water to the pellets with a dropper and planted the seeds

Then they made labels for their squash and beans.

The boys check their seeds every day and make sure the soil is still moist and add a bit of water when needed.  Our beans have already sprouted and the boys are thrilled.  They have a small journal where they track and record their observations of their seeds' growth.  I love the science!

Our next project was to decorate a flower pot and after giving the boys instructions, I stepped back and let them do whatever they wanted.

Such intense concentration!

DONE!

There were a number of left over supplies and Jack and Natalie used these the next day to make more flowers.  There are also a number of ideas available on-line that supplement the crate activities.  There are suggested books, more crafts, and websites to explore more about each activity.  

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our next crate.  Liam is already trying to guess what the next project will be.  He hopes it is dinosaurs.  

-Emily