toucanBox – Creative Boxes for Curious Minds
LittleBird’s Alex was invited to try toucanBox in return for an honest review on their exciting craft box. Read on to find out more…
I like to think of myself as quite a crafty person; I enjoy drawing, colouring, painting and creating from the recycling with the kids, but when faced with a full-time job, housework, and homework, like most other busy parents out there, I lose the inspiration to just pop up with brilliant ideas! I don’t have the time to go and forage for it all in the shops and set it all out (without the kids fighting over who gets what colour paintbrush, pot, crayon…etc. ) and deal with the fact that once finished, my kitchen always looks like a burgled arts and craft shop with bits everywhere! I also have the issue that they are 5 and 7, a boy and a girl, they like different things and they argue. A LOT.
Keen to reduce screen time for the kids, I was looking for some organised but educational fun that wouldn’t cost the earth, and that the children would embrace and get really stuck into – without bickering. Cue toucanBox!
toucanBox create monthly flexible subscription of creative boxes for curious minds aimed at 3-8 year olds, their unique and colourful boxes encourage crafting, creativity and learning to develop key skills under the guise of pure FUN! With literally everything they need included in one beautifully coloured box, and addressed specifically to them, each box arrives through the letterbox making it all incredibly easy for us busy parents!
The school run done, kids home, armed with a snack (nothing worse than hangry crafting sessions…), I gave them their two boxes to get stuck in. Much excitement ensued and they literally wanted to do everything at once!
Starting with the toucanBox magazine, the kids were introduced to the STEAM team. A clever crew of Dot, Toucanoo_Bot_1.1, Kit, Mati and Al who each have their own creative characters and strengths based around Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM). Kids get to colour them in, draw robot friends and accessories for them and then read a fun story about their adventures through the book.
The adventures cleverly incorporate:
- Making homemade ice-cream
- Following mazes
- Sequencing (…I got lost here but the kids did it)
- Tidying-up (yes please!)
- Counting
- Inventing robots
- Designing a Robot ID card
- Designing their own Toucanoo character
The children were so absorbed by the whole colourful, educational and jam-packed magazine and I sat with them, watching and enjoying a hot cup of tea, marvelling at their unstinting concentration and vivid imaginations. Not least the fact that for a whole half hour, they had been totally ensconced in a new world and there had been no bickering!
Over the next one and a half hours, we then did all the activities in the box from making a modern art canvas to creating a native American headband; from making a treasure map with teabags and a parrot partner to making a Dreamcatcher with feathers; from making Kandinsky Circles with foam to creating picture collages with stickers for the STEAM crew adventures.
It was incredible to watch the children not only learning but being able to be so creative and inspired, they worked together, shared ideas and we really enjoyed the time together. Because everything was contained in the box, I didn’t have to slope off to find glue, felt, canvas squares, stickers, beads, paints, string or anything else and I could just sit, play and interact with them. Quality time that in our busy day to day lives I treasure.
Needless to say tea, bath, story and bed was a bit late that night – we were just having too much fun together.
Thank you toucanBox for sending me the two boxes in return for an honest review, I am converted and will be buying them again for the children very soon – they keep asking where their next toucanBox is! Do you do them for adults as well?!
Why not try toucanBox yourself for free here!
All you need to do is pay just £2 postage!
Happy crafting!