Knowledge Crate Review 1: Winter 2023, With Price Comparison
February 7, 2024
Disclaimer
This Knowledge crate is supposed to be for children who are preschool aged, meaning 3+. Aryi is now 21 months old as I write this. I thought I would get it anyway. I did get the one WITHOUT water beads. I know Aryi won’t be able to do everything that comes in the crate, but I think we could do enough that would make it worth the purchase. We will be able to do the sensory activities, enjoy the books, penguin counting toys, and do some of the art projects. In fact there seems to be just a few things we won’t be able to do. I also thought, whatever we don’t use, I can keep it for mommy preschool when he is actually 3.
Activity Guide
This activity guide is great. It gives you 20 activities to do with everything in the kit. In addition you can find other ways to use the products in the crate. What I love about this guide in particular is that there are colored beads next to each activity that let you know what skill your child is learning.
Books
“Snow”, “Little Bear’s Special Friend”, “Sneezy the Snowman”, “Emperor Penguin”, and “Penguins!”
Five books were included in this crate. These are beautiful books, some of them scholastic. They are paper books and they all fit into the weather/penguins theme of the crate.
Learning Resources Penguins On Ice
These penguins are great. You can use them to work on numbers or colors, as well as the fine motor skill of sticking them on their ice blocks. Soon we can move on to patterns and simple math like addition. This is an amazing toy. Aryi really did love it. Only he still gets confused between penguins and owls. It is super cute. I do correct him, but kind of hope he does it a little while longer.
Steve Spangler Science, Snowman Science fake snow
This crate comes with a fake snow kit for sensory bin fun. It was super cool. I don’t think I have ever played with a fake snow like this. I definitely think we will be doing a bin with this every winter until it isn’t fun anymore.
Art Supplies
Four paints (2 blue, 1 white, and 1 grey), Paper for the 3 different art projects, Stencil, Button Stickers, Pom Pom stickers, Snowflake stickers, Snowman stickers, Mitten stickers, Scissors, Gluestick, Pencil, Sharpener, Marker, Paintbrush, Tape, and Legos
This crate came with a ton of art supplies to do 3 different art projects as well as extra supplies not involved in the projects in the activity guide for extra fun. The stickers and stencils in particular are extra items that were not a part of the activities that we were able to use in our own way. As far as the quality of all of these items, they are fine. The paintbrush and marker kind of suck, but we are talking about items for a toddler, so that is fine. I absolutely adored the pom pom and button stickers. These are so fun and made our snowstorm art project absolutely beautiful. And it was mostly done by a 1 year old.
I can Add and Subtract Workbook
Now, I knew this would be way too advanced for my one year old. Guess what, I stuck it in a file folder with everything else that was too advanced and we have more activities to do when he is 3.
2 Foam dice
These are great just on their own for number play. Aryi has not fully grasped which written number goes with the number he counted. However, he can count to 10. It is super fun to just roll the dice and count the number of dots that pop up. We are still getting age appropriate use from these dice, while I put away the numbered penguins laminated page for next year. I also used these dice in my Letter Dd basket.
Penguin Stickers
These are just stickers thrown in the crate. Aryi loves to just stick stickers, so these are fun.
Penguin Flashcards
These are great. You are supposed to use these to find the color penguin that matches the flashcard. Fun game. Aryi loves color matching.
Penguin Information Cards
These are super cool. However, the differences between penguin types is not something my 1 year old is going to understand, especially when he still calls them owls sometimes. This will be saved for next year. I will say, I am a little sad that figurines were not included to match the animal cards. I have seen that in previous crates online and it is something I was super excited about. I got a pack of some penguins when we went to the aquarium because I wanted that so bad. It doesn’t have 2 of the types, but it has the rest of them.
Snowflake I-Spy
This is super cute. We can use this now. It would be too hard to find the number and fill out the paper. But, what we could do is have Aryi point to the different colored snowflakes when I asked.
Penguin Roll and Cover
Like I said above when we were talking about the dice, I put this away for later.
Writing Numbers Practice
This was also put away. Obviously, Aryi’s Fine motor skills are not up for this.
Cutting Practice
This was also put away. I did try it out with Aryi. He couldn’t get the 2 different fingers moving in and out. It was too much at this time.
Aryi’s Sensory Bins
I did not get the water beads. Those scare me. That leaves us with 2 sensory bin options in this crate. I also opted out of using the beads due to the hazard. I left the pipe cleaners to use with those later. I also left out the paper snowflakes for glue practice. That leaves us with playdough, fake snow, wooden snowflakes, popsicle sticks, and penguins (that I bought separately at my local aquarium). I gave Aryi the fake snow with just penguins sitting in it. That was actually just fun enough on its own with the sensory fun of the snow. The other bin was playdough, penguins, sticks, and snowflakes. This was also enough for a 1 year old to have tons of fun.
Aryi’s Art
We used to snowflakes as I said for glue practice. We used the penguin stickers just for sticker practice. We did the snowstorm art project. It was so much fun and completely doable for a 1 year old. I think the other 2 projects in the activity guide are also doable for Aryi. I may need to help more with some, but that is fine, and totally expected with a 1 year old. Lastly, we did a fun Valentine’s Day card project for Aryi’s dad. It turned out great. You can see with the extra projects we did, there are enough supplies to go beyond the activity guide.
Worth it?
You can buy this kit for $99.00 plus tax. You can buy everything in this kit for $251.19 plus tax. The prices for each dupe I found are listed below. Is it worth it? Yes. Just Yes. I don’t know how they do it. If you add the snow, penguins, and all of the books, you are already paying like $97. Wow. I really don’t know how they do it.
This quarterly crate is literally enough fun for an entire quarter. There are so many activities to do. Many of the activities are multiple uses. In addition, there are many other ways to use the things in the crate not listed in the guide. I also love how every single thing you will need for every single activity is included in the crate. If you need a pencil, it is in there. If you need a lego, it is in there. You do not have to worry about any extra supplies. You can literally open the box and start a project.
Amazon Dupe Prices
Activity Guide – not replicable
“Snow” – $7.29
“Little Bear’s Special Friend” – $12.94
“Sneezy the Snowman” – $5.49
“Emperor Penguin” – $3.99
“Penguins!” – $5.99
Learning Resources Penguins On Ice – $36.37
Steve Spangler Science, Snowman Science fake snow – $17.94
4 paints (2 blue, 1 white, and 1 gray) – $0.97 x 4 = $3.88
Paper for the 3 different art projects – $2.19 + $5.49 = $7.68
Stencil – $5.99
Button Stickers, Popcycle sticks, Pipe Cleaners, and Pom Pom Stickers – $20.99 for a craft set
Snowflake Stickers, Snowman stickers, and Mitten stickers – $16.99
Scissors – $1.88
Gluestick – $3.43
Pencil – $2.99
Sharpener – $3.99
Marker – $3.99
Paintbrush – $2.44
Tape – $6.99
Legos – $23.99
1 Purple and 1 White playdough – $5.50 x 2 = $11.00
9 Wooden snowflakes – $9.99
3 Wooden circles – $8.49
Small Beads – $5.24
White paper snowflakes – $9.99
2 Foam dice – $6.97
Penguin Stickers – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Penguin Flashcards – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
I can Add and Subtract Workbook – $3.99
Penguin Information Cards – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Snowflake I-Spy – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Penguin Roll and Cover – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Writing Numbers Practice – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Cutting Practice – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer
Total – $251.19 + tax = $274.32
You can check out the Youtube video by clicking the link below.