Continuing in my series of activity boxes for older children, this weeks review is a KiwiCo Tinker Crate aimed at 9-16 years plus.
It was Boo, aged 11, that helped me with this review.
KiwiCo is a monthly subscription crate that comes filled with age appropriate STEM projects for kids, from toddlers to teenagers. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Every crate explores a different theme designed to spark creativity, thinking, and learning.
What’s in the Box
You get all the pieces you need to create a fabulous project. In our box we had everything to make an Arcade Catapult.
Also included is a blueprint with detailed instructions for completing your project.
You also get a TinkerZine which is a comprehensive little magazine full of facts and additional scientific experiments you can complete with your kit.
Arcade Catapult
Following the step-by-step instructions Boo was able to put the catapult together. She needed a little help with the main part of the building, but only because it was fiddly for her, the instructions were really clear.
When completed we had a little wooden catapult and a game board. Also included was a wipe board scoring pad and pen.
The finished project was a great little game where you catapult the ball with your newly constructed catapult into your handmade game board. You can choose how you score the holes and take it in turns to see who can get the highest score. It really is a fun game and we have all played it many times.
Tinker Zine
The Tinker Zine is a fun magazine which adds extra content to the box.
It tells you how to play your catapult game giving different rules to try out to make it more fun.
The magazine also tells you how to make a basketball game and a rubber band bowling game with your kit.
Then you can learn how to make paper footballs and your own craft stick catapult.
The Tinkerzine also describes old fashioned arcade machines from a museum.
And, of course, there is a detailed page about the science behind the catapult and the difference between kinetic and potential energy.
Finally, you are provided with a page of resources where you can find out more.
Our Verdict.
Perfect for older children this box provided a fun activity that was slightly more challenging to assemble. The end result was a fun and sturdy game that has been played over and over.
The extra activities in the Tinker zine gave us more to do and added value to the box.
Boo really enjoyed making the game and did almost all of it by herself. We have all had fun playing with the finished game. We would definitely consider subscribing to further crates.
If you would like to try a Tinker Crate or any other crate from KiwiCo then you can use my special link to give you your for crate for FREE, you just have to pay shipping/P&P
You can check out my KiwiCrate Atlas crate review here.
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