Kiwico Review 11: Panda Crate, Let's Pretend! (19-24 Months) with Book Bundle Book Good Night, Gorilla
April 24, 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 19-24 months, that means it should work for Aryi 22-27 months, in theory. Aryi was starting to catch up to his age at about a year. He is now fully caught up and surpassed developmental milestones for his age. That means these toys should be appropriate for him now. We are very proud of how far he has come. I feel that all of this makes our experience with development and play particularly unique.
Wonder Play Guide
We are fully in the new versions of the kits now. This means we get the Play Guides instead of Wonder Magazine and instruction cards. Having everything in one bound guide is far more superior than the previous cards and magazine. This Play guide talks a lot about hand-eye coordination. Dr. D answers a question on vision, there are panda tips, you get instructions for how to play with each of the toys in the crate, and DIY or cheap activities to do. The one thing I do miss from the old Wonder Magazine is they have a song in the back.
Kiwico: $0.00
Amazon: $Not duplicable
Wood Veggies and Planter Box
I really do love this little veggie garden. Aryi and his dad have been having tons of fun lately outside digging in pots enjoying spring. It was great for him to be able to bring that inside into some pretend play. We really do enjoy this toy so much. It is a truly unique toy and the reason I buy boxes like this. You can get something very similar off of Amazon for about twice the price.
Kiwico: $11.21
Amazon: $24.70
Cooking Set
Did we need this cooking set? No. Do we already have a cooking set? Yes. Does everyone pretty much already have a cooking set when they have a 2 year old? Yes. Is this a very nice cooking set? Yes. I don’t really know what else to say about this. The quality is very nice, but this is not why I buy the Kiwico panda crate. I get it for unique toys that help my child learn and develop, not for toys everyone already has in their home. You can find a similar set on Amazon, that again is more expensive.
Kiwico: $11.21
Amazon: $16.99
Basket
Is this little basket cute with the planter box and cooking set? Yes. Do we need a basket? No. Again, this toy is of nice quality, but it isn’t something we don’t already have. You can find something a little more expensive on Amazon.
Kiwico: $11.21
Amazon: $14.09
Good Night, Gorilla
This book is really cute, in fact we already have it. It was given to us as a gift a while back. But, of course, Kiwico doesn’t know what books are in your library when they send out crates. We gave this book away to someone else with a little because we don’t need 2. You can get the same exact book on Amazon. It ends up being a little cheaper on Amazon, just due to the split with 4 items in this crate.
Kiwico: $11.21
Amazon: $8.64
Worth it?
Amazon Dupes total out to be $62.42 + 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
Is this crate worth it? If you are just comparing prices, I would definitely say yes, right, it is cheaper than everything you get on Amazon. However, for us, the only new toy for us in this crate was the garden, meaning I could have just bought a garden off of Amazon for $25. Again, I don’t get these boxes for just the nice toys. I get them for the child development, I get them for unique toys that I can’t find elsewhere. That makes this box in particular, for me, not worth it.
Kiwico: $44.85 + tax
Amazon: $64.42 + tax
Check out the related Youtube video by clicking the link below. Hear my rant about Kiwico’s customer service.