As parents, we all know that one of our most important jobs is helping our kids get a quality education.
And while a good school and great teachers make a huge difference, a love of learning really starts in the home.
The learning we promote at home is the foundation kids build their knowledge, curiosity, and confidence upon… so it’s essential that we give them every opportunity to grow.
Most of us are pretty comfortable with incorporating reading into our home routines. In fact, most of us can probably recite our kids’ favorite bedtime books from memory!
Building time for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities can sometimes feel a bit more daunting.
That’s why we love KiwiCo, an innovative subscription service that provides your kids with everything they need to start building, designing, creating, and connecting with the world of STEM.
We’ve touched on some of the cool things KiwiCo offers in past articles, so it was exciting to see that the company is only expanding their STEM experiences.
Read on to learn more about what KiwiCo provides, as well as the pros, cons, and costs of this educational option.
KiwiCo| Tinker. Create. Innovate. With hands-on projects that make learning fun!
KiwiCo makes STEM learning fun and exciting for kids, while taking the prep and planning off your plate. With themed crates that arrive at your doorstep every month, three months, or six months.
What is KiwiCo All About?
KiwiCo is designed to make STEM learning fun and exciting for kids, while taking the prep and planning off your plate.
When you subscribe to KiwiCo, you’re signing up for STEM-themed crates to arrive at your doorstep every month, three months, or six months, depending on the subscription tier that works best for you.
Each crate comes with everything your little learner needs to dive into a fun, hands-on STEM experience.
The crates you’ll receive are based on the KiwiCo Club you select when you first subscribe.
KiwiCo includes options for kids as young as six months, all the way up to the teen years. Project experiences focus on tons of different STEM-related fields, based on what sparks your child’s interest.
Read on for a quick overview of the different KiwiCo Club options you can choose from.
KiwiCo Club Options
KiwiCo Clubs are based on your child’s age range, as well as their interests.
For the youngest set, there’s the Panda Crate option. Geared towards babies and toddlers from 0-3 years old, these activities are perfect for developing your little one’s understanding of the world around them.
KiwiCo Sprout is intended for slightly older kiddos, from ages 3-6. The KiwiCo Sprout Club mingles STEM concepts with pretend play and imaginative learning to hold your child’s interest while teaching them new skills.
For older kids, there are several KiwiCo Club options to explore.
There’s the KiwiCo Labs Club, which is aimed at kids 6+ who love science and engineering. This club provides exciting opportunities for kids to build
their problem-solving skills while doing fun projects on everything from gaming, robotics, inventing and coding.
There’s also KiwiCo Studio, which focuses more on art and design for the 9+ crowd. This is a perfect option for kids who love to draw, paint, and express themselves with artistic flair.
KiwiCo World is the fifth and final club, which centers around geography and culture. This club is great for any child (or teen) who is fascinated by the world around them and wants to learn more about different places around the globe.
Five Things We Loved About KiwiCo
Now that you’ve got an overview of how KiwiCo works and what they offer, let’s talk about the top five things we really love about this STEM option.
1. KiwiCo Projects Are Fun! It may seem simple, but this is a big one! No matter how educational an activity may be, there’s not much point if it’s just going to sit in the box.
KiwiCo crates are pretty much guaranteed to hold your child’s attention. That’s because they’re curated by educational experts, and tested and approved by fellow kids.
Each experience lets your child actually build and create something they can use and play with.
Projects are expertly tailored to your child’s age range, too, you can bet that your preteen isn’t going to be bored by something that feels too juvenile (and, on the other hand, that your toddler isn’t going to be overwhelmed by something with way too many steps and pieces).
If your child lacks confidence in their STEM skills, or is just a reluctant learner overall, joining a KiwiCo Club is a great way to reframe their views on science.
If your child is already crazy about STEM, even better! These crates are sure to help them continue having fun with science, math, and tech skills.
2. KiwiCo Clubs Are Enriching. While KiwiCo crates have always been a fun experience for kids, their newly retooled Clubs have really taken things to the next level.
Each project your child receives connects with and builds upon the one before, giving them a greater understanding of both science and community.
Plus, the Clubs allow kids to unlock digital content, earn rewards, and level up to new topics within their chosen field. This adds more buy-in and motivation to keep the learning going.
KiwiCo Clubs help kids understand that learning doesn’t take place in a vacuum.
Instead of seeing each project as a one-time entertaining craft or activity, they’ll see the bigger picture of how all the concepts they’re learning are interconnected.
Pretty cool way to help your child grow as a learner, creator, and critical thinker.
3. KiwiCo Crates Are Convenient. Let’s be real: a lot of times, things that are fun and enriching for kids end up being a lot of work on our end as parents.
We’re up for it, of course… a trip to a science museum or nature preserve is always worth it in the end, as is a trek to the hobby store to stock up on ingredients for an at-home experiment.
That being said… we love how easy KiwiCo is for both kids and parents!
The crates arrive with everything (and we mean everything) that your child needs to get started.
Even the directions are kid-friendly and easy to follow, so you don’t have to hover over your child’s shoulder to make sure they’re reading the fine print.
For the youngest learners, of course, you’ll need to be there to facilitate the activities.
Since KiwiCo is designed by child development experts, however, even the projects for babies and toddlers allows them to be as hands-on (and you as hands-off) as possible!
4. KiwiCo Materials Are High Quality. When you’re shelling out money for a subscription, convenience isn’t the only thing that matters.
It’s also important to know that the materials you’re receiving are good quality.
So often when we order things “sight unseen,” they can be disappointing in person.
Especially with toys, products are often smaller, flimsier, and generally less appealing than they look in photos.
Plus, cheaper toys and art supplies are often made with lower-quality plastics and easily breakable parts.
All this to say that with KiwiCo crates, you don’t have to worry about any of this.
Whether your child is making their own glow-in-the-dark jellyfish, building a model map of Peru, or creating a robotic simple machine, you can be assured that the stuff they’re using is good quality.
In fact, as KiwiCo strives to build a more interconnected STEM community, they’ve actually designed many of their new projects to be rebuildable.
This means your little ones can take apart and remake their projects (or trade them with one another!) to keep the learning and playing going.
We love that the experiences are not only educational, but the finished products are things your child can actually keep and continue to use.
5. KiwiCo Is Flexible. We’ve all been in the situation of getting stuck with a subscription we’re barely even using. In lots of cases, once you’ve made a commitment, it can be impossible to back out!
KiwiCo is refreshingly flexible in this regard. If you want to pause your subscription for a month or two, you easily can.
If you decide to stop your subscription entirely, there won’t be any tricky caveats to keep you stuck.
The flexible payment options (choose to pay every month, three months, or six months) also show that KiwiCo is designed with real families in mind.
What to Consider Before You Invest in KiwiCo
Now that you know some of the things we love about the KiwiCo experience, let’s talk about what you should also be aware of before you jump right in.
There aren’t many drawbacks to this service: it’s fun, it’s educational, it’s easy, it’s high-quality, and it’s flexible.
The only factor to consider here would be the cost. KiwiCo Clubs for kids over six have a flat rate of just $30/month.
As noted above, subscribers can choose to pay every month, or opt for every three, six, or twelve months.
That being said, KiwiCo Clubs are a great way to tie in multiple projects together. Because the club projects are all connected, they become more of a learning program than just a monthly treat.
Plus, having all of the parts, pieces, and directions ready for your child right out of the box is a big perk… not to mention the fact that the activities are guaranteed to be both educational, age-appropriate, and engaging.
Your child will also be gaining access to digital resources and an online community of peers, too.
There are plenty of cheaper DIY options out there for families on a tight budget, of course.
For less than a dollar a day, however, these experiences might just be worth it to help your child’s curiosity and love of STEM blossom.
Final Thoughts on KiwiCo
KiwiCo Clubs provide your child with the tools they need to develop a deep understanding and passion for scientific and mathematical concepts.
Whether you have a toddler, an elementary schooler, or a teenager at home, KiwiCo’s projects and resources are a great way to get them hooked on STEM.
The more your child learns about STEM, the more they’ll learn to question, explore, experiment, and appreciate the world around them.
These skills are important for academic success… and also for life in general.
Have you tried a KiwiCo crate in the past? Are you excited to explore KiwiCo Clubs in the future? We’d love to hear your thoughts or questions on this STEM service in the comments below!
Julia loves all things reading and writing and enjoys discovering new ways to connect with other educators.
