Knowledge Crate Review 4: Summer 2024 Seasonal Desert Crate

Knowledge Crate Review 4: Summer 2024

July 16,2024

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. 

There were no songs or fingerplays in the guide this time. I typed up some that I found on the internet onto pretty papers to hang in our play area so that we can have fun practicing them. I will put the printable pages below.

 

Books

‘The Night Flower’

This book was beautiful. It was a little advanced for Aryi. I had to read it at nap time or when he was busy with a snack. This is a book that can grow with Aryi. It has a life cycle and desert animals. 

‘The Desert Alphabet Book’

This book was way too advanced. I think it would be too advanced for a 3 or 4 year old too and might be more appropriate in the elementary crate. 

‘Stick and Stone’

We both LOVED this book. This is the cutest little book about friendship. I really don’t know how to explain friendship, so I am happy to have this book to help. Stone is always there for his friend, stick. They go on an adventure together and realize they are each other’s family. I can not rave about this book enough. 

‘Croc and Ally’

This is another cute book about friends. Croc and Ally clearly are annoying each other, but you can tell they really do love each other. They are the best of friends

Sensory Bin Supplies

Kinetic Sand and Desert Animals

In this crate you get a pack of Kinetic Sand and half a Toob of Desert Animals (the other half are in the elementary crate). You get the Ram, Coyote, Mountain Lion, Bobcat, and Saguaro Cactus. Together this makes a fun desert sensory bin. I did buy an extra desert Toob to get all of the animals. It was a super cute sensory bin, I don’t think I would have ever thought to do a desert. This was so much fun. We made balls, watched sand drip, hid animals in the sand, made tracks in the sand, and more. 

Usually there is a play dough option in the crates. I was sad not to have that here. I pulled the orange and red play dough from our spring crate. We made foot prints and cactus prints in the dough.

Art Supplies

All of these supplies add up to 7 art projects. We haven’t had a chance to do the sun paper and sunscreen art yet because it has been raining a lot lately. 

The paint sticks are messy. It says they are not, but they are. They get all over your hands and the table, everywhere. They are not as messy as paint, but messier than markers. There are 3 different projects with these, and they are all basically coloring. This was a little disappointing to us. We love multimedia art, and just drawing is something we can do on our own.

The multimedia art was so much fun. There was sand to glue on the picture and tissues to make flowers on your cactus. This was so much fun. 

There was also a 3D cactus. Aryi loved this. He loved coloring it and told me to color. Then I put it together and now he still likes to play with it. He brings me his cactus and talks about it. This was a hit.

Cactus Counter

This is a super fun little toy included in the box. Aryi loves these. It is much like the penguin counter we got in the winter crate. You can sort colors, match, do patterns, count, and even do simple math. I will say, the cacti are a bit small and I wouldn’t let Aryi use this alone. 

 

Roll and Poke

Aryi had a ball with this one! You roll the dice and put that many toothpicks in the cactus. The dice was terrifyingly small to me so I grabbed the large ones from our winter crate. We roll the dice, Aryi counts the dots, then we can count as we add toothpicks. Aryi has asked for this a few times, and now that we are playing preschool, we played this game with an apple. 

Tracing and ISPY

There are several tracing sheets in this box. I am glad we got prewriting tracing practices with the lines. These are perfect for Aryi at this time. I put away the words for later on. 

We love the ISPY. With a younger kid like Aryi, I get him to circle all the same cactus, then we count them. 

Experiments

Three experiments are included in this crate. All of them are being saved for later. I put up the teaching kindness stuff for when Aryi is older and can understand better. I am saving the egg experiment for our playing preschool egg unit. The cactus sponge experiment, we just didn’t get to it yet.

Amazon Dupe Prices

The Night Flower – $8.99

The Desert Alphabet Book – $7.55

Stick and Stone – $17.06

Croc and Ally – $5.73

Toob Desert Animals – $11.99

Kinetic Sand – $7.99

Construction Paper – $6.34

Glue – $1.88

Dry Erase Marker – $4.99

Pencil – $3.99

Sharpener – $2.59

Scraper – $5.12

Paint Sticks – $8.99

Sunscreen Lotion – $23.60

Qtips – $1.47

Travel Toothpaste – $1.97

Sand Paper – $4.99

Cotton Balls – $6.50

Sun Art Kit – $8.00

Cactus Kit – $7.98

Sand – $5.99

Tissue Paper – $4.99

Planter – $7.99

Cactus Counter – $13.69

Pool Noodle – $6.59

Toothpicks – $3.04

Dice – $4.77

Tracing Sheets – you could make this at home for free

ISPY – you could make this at home for free

Worksheet – you could make this at home for free

Sponges – $4.99

Vinegar – $3.69

Total – $203.48 + tax

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.

The Best Deal

You can get crates separate or a subscription for $99.00 + tax each. The better deal is to buy the Annual option for $348.00 and get 4 crates. You save $51.00.

Check out my related Youtube video by clicking the link below. 

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