Lately, Mazzy and Harlow have been really into crafts. All Harlow needs is a piece of paper and a crayon, but Mazzy wants to do things that are more involved. She wants to do what she calls “projects”. Otherwise, she begs me to “pretend play” with her, which is fun, until she makes me act out Frozen half a billion times.

Have I ever told you about the time Mazzy asked me to play Elsa, instructed me to hit her with my ice powers and then passed out on the floor? Then she made me act out the troll scene all by myself while she lay there unconscious. Only when it got to the part where the trolls cure her, she whispered, “Pretend it didn’t work!” so I would continue acting out a new version of the story alone, while she remained motionless on the floor.

“Can I be Anna and you be Elsa?” I asked her. (Lying motionless sounded nice.)

“No! Keep playing, Mom, keep playing!!!!”

Anyway, pretend play can be exhausting, watching shows always feels like a cop out, and since it’s getting too cold to go outside to the playground, “projects” seem to be where it’s at.

The one problem with “projects” is that you need to have several crafting items on hand and the ability to make up a fun/educational/time-consuming craft on the spot. One that is not too hard and not to easy, so your kid doesn’t finish it too quickly or get frustrated and stop in the middle. And then once the “project” is finished, you are all out of crafting materials again.

That’s why I was very excited to receive my first Kiwi Crate in the mail.

Kiwi Crate is a monthly subscription service that delivers all the hands-on materials you need to inspire 2-3 projects per crate. The crates have different themes like music, color, robots, and safari, along with educational materials to make it a learning experience. There’s also a game or activity to play together with the crafts when you are done. Your inaugural box comes with a pair of kid-friendly scissors. Mazzy’s eyes lit up when she saw those.

Our first Kiwi Crate was the Polar Expedition.

I wish a had a better shot of the whole box when I opened it up, but Mazzy was in a rush to get started and I didn’t want to ruin the fun with my obsessive photo taking.

There were two crafts in the box, with enough supplies for two people to create their own craft. They each had an indication of difficulty level and messiness (much appreciated).

The craft involved picking a pattern that was inside a plastic covering. You used puffy paint to trace the pattern and then fill in all the empty space with glue.

Then you had to wait 24 hours for it to dry, but in the end you had this:

Pretty cool, right?

Mazzy loved the craft and it was something we had fun doing together. Can you tell who did which window cling? The crate also came with a couple of ready-made Kiwi clings to stick on the window too. Harlow was a huge fan of the kiwis.

The craft involved sewing together two white felt mitts and then sticking black felt paw prints and claws on either side.

Mazzy wanted me to do most of the sewing, but honestly I think she could have done it, if she put in a little more effort. But I didn’t want to force her and make it less fun.

Kiwi Crates are not really age-appropriate for Harlow (their first level of crate is the Koala which is for ages 3-4), but she was still able to help on several aspects of the craft. I let her decorate her own mitts, and she stuck the velcro on the little ball that would become a crucial part of the toss.

Harlow also loved wearing the polar bear headband, which Mazzy made for them both.

After we were finished, we played “snowball toss”, tossing the velcro ball back and forth with our mitts.

I don’t have many good shots of this because it had gotten dark and my pictures needed more light— but, I should point out— the fact that we were able to keep ourselves busy with the crate activities from the time Mazzy got home from school (3:30pm) until after it got dark (around 5:30pm) is pretty much the mark of crafting success.

The crate also came with a booklet called Polar Bear Expedition (which incorporated several interesting facts and activity options) plus a snowflake cookie cutter (with sugar cookie recipe)— so there is still more to do with the box at a later date.

Mike came home a little after we were done and it was awesome to hear Mazzy run up and tell Dad about the fun activity Mom had planned for her when she got home from school.

She actually turned to me and said in her most serious voice, “Good project, Mom, good project.”

There is no better validation than that.

If you’d like to sign up for Kiwi Crate, all subscribers receive a bonus welcome kit + FREE shipping. Use the code MS25 to get 25% off your 1st month subscription on all 4 lines of crates (Kiwi, Koala, Doodle and Tinker). They ship to the US & Canada.

Happy crafting!

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This post was sponsored by Kiwi Crate, but all thoughts, opinions and adorable crafters are my own.

Photo credit: Karilyn Sanders