Kiwico Review 2: Panda Crate, Travel With Me, With Price Comparison
January 30, 2024
Disclaimer
My son was born prematurely. He was born at 26 weeks and 6 days (3 months and 1 day early). If this box is for a baby 3-4 months, that means it should work for Aryi 6-7 months, in theory. A lot of these plaything we started using during his stay in the NICU. He was in an incubator for the first 2 months. This means no toys. We started introducing him to the toys in this kit when he was moved to a crib at about 2 months. I feel that all of this makes our experience with development and play particularly unique.
Instruction cards
Every kit at first came with these instruction cards and Wonder Magazine. This has since been changed to a little flashcard booklet with all of the information. The cards came just as loose cards. This is a problem, so I am glad they changed it. I punched holes in the cards and added a ring to them to keep them all neat and together. There is a card for each item included in the kit. There are also cards with other activities you can do with your baby that can be done for free with items around your house or that involve cheap products you can pick up from the dollar store. These cards and magazine are amazing tools for learning how to engage with your baby. This addition of wonder discusses what your baby is working on, the different stages of tummy time, ways to get out of the house, frustrations during tummy time, parent tips, and has a sing along featuring the wheels on the bus.
Travel Tummy Time Mat
I think this mat is one of the cutest little mats. There is a sky theme and it has a sun and a moon as well as places to attach the rattles. It has straps on it to roll it up for travel. This is supposed to be a travel mat for bringing with you when you get out and about, therefore, we did not end up using this much, just because Aryi was in the hospital for the first 4 and a half months of his life. When he finally came home I was afraid to bring him in public. This became our back patio play mat. If we went outside on a nice day, I would lay Aryi down on this mat on the patio.
Kiwico: $8.97
Amazon Dupe: $19.99
Star Teether
This is actually one of Aryi’s favorite teethers still. It was super fun for Aryi to hold when he first started holding things, because it kind of staid on your hand if you let go. Aryi loved gnawing on it. This star is still great. Due to it’s shape, Aryi can put it in his mouth and it will go around his front teeth so he can reach the area that is teething.
Kiwico: $8.97
Amazon Dupe: $7.95
Hanging Sun and Rainbow Rattles
These suck. They are super cute, but the velcro does not work. Why would you make something like this and then stick velcro on it that does not work? Aryi did not mind. He still loved to play with these. He couldn’t bat at them because they wouldn’t stay up, but he had tons of fun shaking them. Also, they are kind of beautiful. I just can’t get past them not working.
Kiwico: $8.97
Amazon Dupe: $12.90 But, it might make more sense to just get a playgym. I found this one on Amazon for $28.31.
“Poppy on the Go” soft book
This soft book is super cute. You get to see poppy go using different forms of transportation. It has crinkle paper, which the babies love. I put this in my car, so Aryi can play with it in there since it is an on the go book. I love little soft books like this for the car.
Kiwico: $8.97
Amazon Dupe: $9.58
“Car, Car, Truck, Jeep”
This book is available on amazon as most of the extra book bundle books are. I do appreciate getting this book because I would have never found this on my own and to this day it is one of Aryi’s favorite books.
Kiwico: $8.97
Amazon Dupe: $7.99
Worth it?
Amazon Dupes total out to be $85.70 if everything is bought separate or $50.10 if an entire playgym is bought before tax.
The Panda crate can come in a few buying options. I paid for 12 crates for 2 years (crates come every 2 months) at $538.20 + tax. This also included the option to get an extra book in each crate.
$538.20 for 12 crates is $44.85 per crate
This crate included 5 items (if I consider the black and white cards to be separate from the activity board, which I do). That means each Item is worth roughly $8.97 + tax.
Objectively this is worth it price wise, no matter what dupe you go with, it is cheaper to get this crate. But also, I loved most of the items in this crate. With the exception of the hanging rattles that do not hang, everything was perfect. Maybe I could sew some better velcro on there for hand me down purposes.
Kiwico Total: $44.85
Amazon Dupe Total: $85.72 for individual items or $50.10 for the gym and books
You can check out the related youtube video by clicking below.