Knowledge Crate Review: Spring Seasonal Crate 2024 (with Price Comparisons)
May 29, 2024
Disclaimer
This Knowledge crate is supposed to be for children who are preschool aged, meaning 3+. Aryi is now 2 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. 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.
I typed up the fingerplays onto pretty papers to hang in our play area so that we can have fun practicing them. You can click on the pictures below to print out these backgrounds for free. You would have to type up and write out your own fingerplays though because I don’t want to give away their fingerplays.
Books
“Have You Seen My Cat?”, “The Greedy Python”, “Pancakes! Pancakes!”, “Rooster is Off to See the World”, “A House for Hermit Crab”, and “Walter the Baker”
The books that came in this crate were great as all Eric Carle books are. I loved that Eric Carle was the theme of this box. This is super easy to turn into a huge unit study. I checked out so many books from the library and there are so many extra crafts you can add on to this. Also, all kinds of toys go with this, from bugs to other animals, colors, plants, the possibilities are actually endless. These books were a little advanced for Aryi. They are supposed to be easy readers for kids just starting to read. I just read them to Aryi. He liked them. His favorite was “Have You Seen My Cat?”. We have 2 cats, so that makes sense.
Eric Carle Ready to Grow Garden Set
I am so glad this came in the crate. It is not something I would have expected to get, but I am so glad that we did. It was so much fun. I love that you get products like this. You don’t just get dollar tree crap in these crates.
Eric Carle ABC Game
This was fun. We did not do the game, but we were able to use the cards to work on our alphabet.
Exploring the Outdoors Card Set
I absolutely adore the idea of these. When you don’t have anything to do, pull a card and go outside. We also just love looking at these and talking about what is on the back of the cards, the way you do with picture books.
Art Supplies
Printed cat , printed rooster, plane white paper, construction paper, poster paper, scratch off animal stickers, paper scraps, wooden dowel, stickers, glitter, googly eyes, bubble wrap, paint, magic clay, epsom salt, wooden cutting board, button and pom pom stickers, stencil, pencil, sharpener, scissors, glue, paintbrush, paper plate, paper bowl, and plastic cups
I love that they give you everything that you might need. You get the scissors, you get the glue, you get a pencil, you even get a pencil sharpener. It is so convenient. All you have to do is open up your box and start. I love that you get full sized paint. There is extra of everything, so that you can keep the art going with stencils and extra stickers.
This crate is meant for children ages 3+ (3-5). I would say that is pretty accurate. There are 2 art projects I had to put away for later. The pretzel sculptures and the scratch animals. However, we were able to do so many of the art activities in the crate. Aryi loves art. He loves to glue and paint and get his hands messy. I did have to help him in the way you have to help a 2 year old do most things, but it was totally worth it. We both had so much fun.
Aryi’s Art Mosaic Cat
Aryi’s Art Hermit Crab
Aryi’s Art Python
Aryi’s Art Mosaic Rooster
Aryi’s Art Extra Supplies
Aryi’s Art Extra Supplies
Playdough and Sensory Bin Supplies
Rainbow rice, playdough, flowers, caterpillars, peg people, scoop, and playdough mat
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: playdough and rice. Aryi loves playdough. I am not really pulling anything out with the dough. Right now I kind of just want Aryi to be creative with the dough, feel it, pull it, roll it, stretch it, squish it. I practice making letters for him, he loves this. I love the dough that comes in these crates. I do not know how this happens, but it smells so much better than the same thing from crayola that comes in the yellow tubs. It smells delicious!! It lasts longer and it is overall better quality.
Aryi also loves playing in rice. I love the little scoops that came in the sensory supplies this time. I have added Toob insects and flowers to this bin to make it a little more fun. Aryi loves rice bins for the pouring mostly. He loves to scoop and pour. I think the caterpillars are super cute, but frankly just not enough. I don’t like these flowers, because they can not be used in the playdough even if you wanted to. They would be ruined.
Tracing Shapes
Aryi is not ready for tracing these shapes yet. He is 2 years old. We just started working on lines and he still gets too excited with that and starts to scribble. However, I love that this came in the kit and I put it away in a sterilite container that I have for things like this that are not appropriate for Aryi at this age but can be used maybe next year or the year after. This could be used for identification, but Aryi can already identify these shapes from working with puzzles and shape sorters, so I am not worried about working on that right now.
Amazon Dupe Prices
Activity Guide – not replicable
Ready to Read Eric Carle Book Set – $15.63
Eric Carle Ready to Grow Garden Set – $11.98 (on sale)
Eric Carle ABC Game – $11.60
Exploring the Outdoors Card Set – not able to find on amazon
Printed Cat – something you could make or print out for free
Printed rooster – something you could make or print out for free
Plane white paper – $9.99
Construction paper – $6.32
Poster Paper – $8.99
Scratch off animal stickers – $11.99
Paper Scraps – can cut up construction paper (see above for construction paper)
Stickers – $3.99
Glitter – $5.99
Googly Eyes – $4.99
Bubble Wrap – $6.29
Paint – $0.97 x 4 = $3.88
Magic Clay – $10.49
Epsom Salt – $4.00
Wooden Cutting board – $14.99
Button and pom pom stickers – $7.95 and $18.17
Stencil – $5.99
Pencil – $2.99
Sharpener – $3.99
Scissors – $1.88
Glue – $3.43
Paintbrush – $2.44
Dry erase marker – $3.99
Wooden Dowel – $7.99
Paper plate – $3.99
Paper bowl – $6.99
Plastic cups – $7.99
Rainbow rice – $12.99
Playdough – $5.50 x 3 = $16.50
Flowers – $9.99
Caterpillars – $22.63
Peg people – $6.99
Scoop – $9.18
Tracing Shapes – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer and laminator or protector sheets
Playdough mat – something you could make or print out for free if you have a printer and laminator or protector sheets
Total – $287.19 + tax + Exploring the Outdoors Card Set (unable to find price)
Worth it?
You can buy this kit for $99.00 plus tax. You can buy everything in this kit for $287.19 + tax. Yes, this crate is absolutely worth it. The deal is crazy to me. You get books, related products, and many activities to do with your child. These crates are absolutely worth it. The books are engaging and the art projects are fun. Aryi was actually able to do most of the things in this particular kit with help. I think this crate is great for a wide range of kids, the difference being the older the kid, the more independent they would be at completing the activities.
You can check out the related Youtube video by clicking the link below.