Kiwico Review 6: Panda Crate, Explore with Me with A Book Bundle Book THAT DID NOT SHOW UP!!!
February 27, 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 7-12 months, that means it should work for Aryi 10-15 months, in theory. 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 what your baby is working on spatial skills, there are tons of tips on how to keep an appropriate space and ways to help you child understand the space around them. Dr. D talks about a parent’s concern for safety, parents give their own tips, and there is a sing along to the itsy bitsy spider.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: N/A
Coin Box Puzzle
This coin puzzle is really nice. It is a great toy for the theme of the crate which is exploring space. I love that the pieces are huge. It was great for Aryi to be able to start with big chunky coins like this and work his way up to the small coins in the Lovevery coin box. I think this is a great toy for working on your fine motor skills. Unfortunately, like a lot of Kiwico toys, the paint chips on the coins are really bad. I know my toddler throws them and puts them in his mouth, but this toy is supposed to be made for that, it’s for a baby/toddler. I know that these toys are made with safe materials, so I am not worried about it. It is just annoying and something to note. I do think the Amazon dupe in this case is a better toy. It comes with a ball and the coins. I am not sure of size comparison exactly. It is about twice the price of an item in the crate.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $14.99
Bead Maze
This little bead maze is super cute. I love to see Poppy on it. This is another great toy for exploring space. The beads go up, down, around, and over Poppy. Aryi likes bead mazes and has tons of fun with this one. The quality is fine. I found a similar toy on amazon for about $4 more.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $11.99
Tissue Box and Fabric Tissues
Aryi loves these type of tissue boxes. This toy again goes with the spacial awareness theme. You put the tissues in, your baby pulls them out. Eventually he could put them back in himself. This is way better than Aryi grabbing a box of wipes and pulling them all out. That could add up quickly. I found a similar toy on Amazon. I want to say, this dupe is ugly, but it is a few cents cheaper.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $7.18
Poppy’s Day Out
This is a cute little book about Poppy going to the park. Again, they are doing great with the theme of this crate. Poppy talks about space. He goes around a pond, up stairs, and down a slide. I love this book. I wish Aryi would be more interested, but like the other Poppy books, he just does not care. I found a book on Amazon where a dog goes to the park. It costs a few more dollars.
Kiwico: $7.47
Amazon Dupe: $9.56
The book that NEVER showed up!!!!
The book bundle book we were supposed to be getting never showed up. It would have cost $7.47 like the rest of the items in the bundle, but again it never showed up. Therefore, I basically just paid $7.47 for nothing. I did contact them. Nothing happened. This is 1 of the 3 times I have been really disappointed with Kiwico. You decide if 3/11 is too many strikes for you. I plan to write a blog post about all of my grievances with Kiwico soon and separately after I have reviewed all of the crates. I had no book to try and dupe, so there is also no Amazon dupe book.
Worth it?
Amazon Dupes total out to be $43.72 + 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 means that the Kiwi crate costs about a dollar more than the dupes would cost. However, I don’t really know how to compare this. Should I take $7.47 off of the Kiwico crate and compare the items I have? No, I paid that. Should I find a dupe book and compare that price? No I have nothing to compare it to. All that I am left with to do is compare the price of the crate as it is with the dupes, and yes the dupes are cheaper making the toys in the crate not worth the price. Then again, you do get the magazine and cards. This is a toss up for me, and I will leave you guys to your own opinions on this one.
Kiwico: $44.85 + tax
Amazon Dupe: $43.72 + tax
You can check out the related Youtube video by clicking the link below.