Living in Arizona, the scorching hot summer months can be brutal. While we love jumping in the pool and being able to dry off within minutes of getting out, most of the season we spend trying to cool off indoors.
Inevitably, the initial excitement of summer vacation wears off, and the dreaded words “I’m bored” start echoing through the house. If your kids are like mine, they may ask for more TV or video games, and the last thing I want is for them to be stuck to the screen all summer.
The KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series is the perfect solution for beating the summer slump. It offers your pick of an expedition theme for kids of all ages. Each series comes with 6 crates filled with fun, hands-on projects, plus access to a library of awesome videos, DIYs, and printables.
Whether you choose weekly deliveries or get all six crates at once, the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series will make your kid’s summer one full of excitement and discovery.
How the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series Works
The first step to an engaging and educational summer is to choose an expedition. Each KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series comprises 6 crates filled with projects and challenges centered around the expedition theme. These crates are tailored to different age groups and include selected crates from different KiwiCo subscription lines.
Here is a list of all the expeditions offered:
For ages 2-4:
- Make and Play (ages 2-3)
- Natural World (ages 3-4)
- Science Explorer (ages 3-4)
- Great Outdoors (ages 3-4)
For ages 5-8:
- Super Science
- How Things Work
- When I Grow Up
For ages 9-14+:
- Engineering Fun
- Inventing Awesome
- Art-trepreneur
- Creative Studio
You can get all 6 crates at once and do them at your own pace or have one delivered to your door every week for 6 weeks. We chose to receive all 6 crates since we were heading out of town and wanted to take several crates with us.
If you are going on a road trip, these KiwiCo crates are great for downtimes at Airbnbs or hotels. Since they come with all the materials needed to complete the projects, you don’t need to worry about purchasing and packing additional items.
Each crate comes with everything you need to build your projects and access to online resources such as video tutorials and additional content to enhance your learning experience. The activities are designed to be interactive, encouraging children to explore, experiment, and problem-solve while having fun.
Why We Love the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series
I have used the KiwiCo crates in our homeschooling curriculum since my kids were little. It has been amazing to watch my kids grow up with the different STEM activities and see them being able to tackle more challenging and complex projects with time.
In the past, my son loved to build and construct engineering projects, especially the ones from the Kiwi Crate subscription line. Now that he is older, he is tapping into his creative side too. Therefore, we got the Inventing Awesome expedition to show him how someone can take a simple idea and make something groundbreaking.
The Inventing Awesome series is designed for young inventors and contains these 6 crates:
- Walking Robot
- Trebuchet
- Hover Disc
- Motor-Powered Maze
- Phantom Projector
- Domino Machine
All the crates in the Inventing Awesome series contain projects focusing on designing something new by improving an existing scientific concept. For example, the Tinker Zine magazine that came with the Trebuchet Tinker Crate explained how the throwing arm of a trebuchet is a lever, similar to a seesaw. Using the mechanical advantage of a lever, a trebuchet can throw a heavy projectile using an even heavier counterweight and a sling.
KiwiCo crates also allow my kids to exercise independence and complete the projects with no or minimal help with their easy-to-follow instructions. My 10-year-old son could build most projects in the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series by himself by looking at the blueprint, which freed up time for me to finish house chores or work. I even squeezed in a couple of minutes to sit down and relax here and there, imagine that!
I asked my kids what their favorite crate from the Inventing Awesome series was. It was difficult for them to pick one—they are all so fun! They enjoyed passing the hover disc back and forth to each other and using it to knock down empty water bottles.
They also loved the motor-powered maze because it’s similar to a video game but without a screen! Using the electric circuit in the controller, they were able to make the maze spin one way or the other so that the bead could navigate it. After they managed to guide the bead to the center, they could open up the maze and create a new one with the magnetic pieces.
I suspect that their favorite though is ironically, the one crate in the whole series that didn’t use any electricity – the trebuchet! The trebuchet allowed the kids to test out different weights to see how the counterweight affected the distance they could launch the ball. My kids were running around the house grabbing different objects to place in the wooden box as the counterweight. It was a great experiment for all!
FAQs
How long will it take for my child to complete a crate?
The time it takes to complete a KiwiCo crate varies depending on the complexity of the project and the individual child. From our experience, each crate takes about an hour or a maximum of two hours. Of course, if I am next to my child helping him with the activities, then it will take a shorter time than if I have him work independently.
Will I receive duplicate crates if I currently have an active KiwiCo subscription?
If you currently have an active KiwiCo subscription, no worries! You will continue to receive your current subscription crates on top of your Summer Adventure Series. After you purchase an expedition, you won’t receive those same crates again as part of your subscription in the future.
That said, it’s important to look at the crates in each themed series carefully if you want to avoid getting a duplicate crate because it’s possible that you’ve received a crate in the series previously. But KiwiCo makes this easy by listing all the crates included on the summer page.
Is there a promo code for the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series?
YES! Use the promo code MOMBRITE to get $20 off any Summer Adventure Series (that’s one project free!)!