Kiwico Review 4: Panda Crate, Listen with Me with Book Bundle Book Music Is...
February 13, 2024
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 7-12 months, that means it should work for Aryi 10-15 months, in theory. 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.
Wonder Magazine and 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 your baby’s auditory development over the first 3 years, advantages of musical play, a question to Dr. D about hearing problems, tips from other parents, and a sing along song for you to learn and play with your child (Aryi loves these).
Kiwico: $0.00
Amazon Dupe: N/A
Pull-Back Car
This pull back car is super cute. Still at 21 months, Aryi does not understand the whole pullback to go forward thing. He loves it, just like he loves a car. But the pullback part is still going straight over his head. He loves the little Poppy too. He knows her name and calls her Poppy. I did get this in another kit later on again. They changed up some of the Crates. I guess they figured out a 7 month old isn’t going to understand a pullback mechanism. They moved it to a later crate and we have two now. I did complain about this. I will go into more detail in a future vlog. I plan to go over every problem I have had with this company. Overall they have fixed problems so far, and it is not so bad that I would not recommend them. The dupe I found was roughly 3 times more expensive.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $22.99
See-Through Roller
This is fun. It is funny how it is called a roller. Aryi has no interest in rolling it. He mostly uses it as a shaker like the loud and soft shakers are meant to be used. I couldn’t really find a comparable dupe, so I went with the clear shaker with balls in it idea. The dupe I found was half the price, but not really a dupe. It is kind of just a different toy.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $3.49
Panda Squeakers
Aryi really loves these squeakers. He is quite musical. He loves the oldies (70s) type of music most. I do think that may have come from introducing him to more musical toys at a younger age. He always loved squeakers as a tiny baby. I would squeeze them for him. He would cry if I stopped. When he started saying more, he would tell me more more more. I would squeek for the longest time. Now his hands are getting big enough to squeek the toys himself. I would like to add that this toy is also great for the concepts of in and out. We put Poppy in. We take her out. All around this is a great toy. You can find tons of dog toys on Amazon that are basically identical, but with different animals. We even got Aryi a gingerbread toy like this for his first Christmas. Most toys like this are sold for close to $10.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $9.99
Loud and Soft Shakers
These are great. I love that they have different sounds. You can also make a 3rd and forth sound if you bang them together or rub the ends together. These are excellent sound toys. I will say, the paint, like the paint on most of their wooden toys, is struggling to stay on. I do have a toddler that throws, chews, bangs, and drops everything (but don’t they all). The dupe was about twice as much.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $11.99
Poppy’s Friendship Band
This book is super cute. Aryi isn’t very interested in these Poppy books (except the crinkle one and the water color one). I don’t understand why. I LOVE them. They are the cutest little books. In this one, it is a rainy day. Poppy and all of his friends are playing inside and make a band with pots and pans from Poppy’s house. I like this so much more than the dupe that is around the same price
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $7.99
Music is…
I really like this book, but Aryi is not a fan. I do think it is a bit advanced. I think it is more for a 2 year old and up. I think he will definitely grow into this book over the next year. You can get the same book on Amazon for a few cents more.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $7.82
Worth it?
Amazon Dupes total out to be $64.27 + 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 6 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 $7.47 + tax.
Objectively this is worth it price wise. Personally, I really liked everything in this crate. My son did not enjoy these books too much, but you will never know that until you read the book to your child no matter where you bought it. All of the toys were a huge hit with the double interest of music and animals. These are two of Aryi’s favorite things.
Kiwico: $44.85
Amazon Dupe: $64.27
You can check out the related Youtube video by clicking the link below.