I was introduced to Wonder Crate when the founder of the company contacted Carolina Homeschool Conference to let us know they were interested in being a vendor! Being that our space was so limited, I wasn’t sure that a subscription box was a great fit for our resources… until I checked out what Wonder Crate is all about! It is so much more than busy activities for your kids. It’s about science, art, history, and… the best part… kids making a difference! 

What is Wonder Crate?

This is not your average subscription box, folks. It is so multi-faceted. And better than that, it’s absolutely inspirational for kids! 

Let me start by saying that we fell in love with biographies when we used the Trail Guide to Learning curriculum, so the Who Was? books are some of our family’s favorites. So I may be extra-inclined to like the way Wonder Crate structures the contents of the boxes.

Geared toward ages 7-11, a Wonder Crate subscription gets your children a monthly delivery of inspiration from a powerful biography from the Who Was? Series and associated activities to spark creativity and curiosity. You’ll also get supplemental ideas and activities delivered to your email.

What makes this box different, I think, is that it’s not just about the doing of the hands-on activity in the moment. It leads your child on an exploration of the human story by examining a historical figure of the past, doing an activity in the present, and thinking about how they can impact the future of the world around them.

What is in each box?

Your first Wonder Crate box will arrive in a beautiful metal lunch box. This was my three-year-old’s favorite part! It has become his place to hide his cache of things special to him. 

That first box, and each shipment thereafter, will contain a biography from the Who Was? Series, and all of the materials and directions you need for some hands-on activities from the fields of science, technology, and/or art! You’ll also get an email with some additional ideas and activities to go with the theme of the month.

What was in our box?

Wonder Crate generously sent our family the July artist series box to try out so we could review their service for you. 

Inside our metal lunchbox was the Frida Kahlo biography, a blank pair of white socks, fabric markers, a sock-design template, and a card with information about a charity called Are You Kidding Cares. 

My daughter and I were immediately intrigued by the biography. I was a little familiar with Frida Kahlo’s work, but I knew nothing of her life story, so we definitely appreciated reading about it.

The activity for the month was to design a pair of unique socks while exploring your own creativity. But these weren’t just any socks. The activity tied in nicely to the work of Wonder Crate’s July Kids of the Month, Brandon and Sebastian Martinez, founders of Are You Kidding Socks. The Martinex brothers are “Kids Helping Kids” WHILE being entrepreneurs. What an awesome story! 

This was right up my creative kid’s alley, and she leaped into not only coloring up one of the socks (little brother got to decorate the other), but also working on the provided template to be designed and emailed to the team at Are You Kidding Socks!

Somehow, I missed the part about the design being something for a charity or cause you support, so we just made a fun one, but it was a really entertaining art project anyway!

What did we think of it?

We really enjoyed our Wonder Crate experience! The biography was a fun easy read-aloud for the whole family. It sparked great conversations about how people with disabilities are treated as well as the role art and creativity play in positive change. 

The kids really had a good time coloring the socks and they’ve taken the included fabric markers and branched out to other projects of their own: t-shirts, tote bags, and more socks!

To be honest, the targeted age-range (7-11) for Wonder Crate subscriptions doesn’t really fit for our family of 16, 13 and 3, so I’ll keep an eye on the upcoming featured role models and purchase a single box when the activities are a really good fit rather than a subscription for home. We’ll also continue following the Wonder Crate blog for stories of more inspirational kids!

I’ve already put the subscriptions on our gift list for cousins this year! A 3-month subscription will cover both holidays and birthdays for some nieces and nephews and I really love the idea of giving them something that makes a difference.

Where do you get it?

Wonder Crate’s website has lots of options for subscriptions or individual box purchases! The company is local to the Triangle, but they ship anywhere.

You can choose from a subscription for Artists, Innovators or Activists, or you can do a combination of the three rotating through the categories each month. You can do month-by-month and cancel any time, or get a discount for pre-paying for 3 or 6 months at a time. Or purchase a past box that fits something you’re studying now!

At the time this article is being published, you can use the coupon code SCHOOL for 15% off a subscription! 

Give it a try and enjoy being inspired with your kids!