Do you remember playing outside for hours with nothing more than a stick when you were a kid? As a boy, I could make that stick a sword to battle pirates or a light saber to battle Darth Vader or a “shooter” (as my daughter says) to be a cowboy. But, it seems, part of growing up involves losing that carefree, imaginative side. I don’t know if it happens overnight or if it happens more gradually, but nevertheless, it happens.
You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this introspection, based on the title of this article. As a father of two girls, I often find myself unable to think of fun, new things to do with them. I resort to some classic hits like building, coloring, piggy back rides, dance parties, tea parties, and Disney movies. But then I see all the great ideas my wife and mother come up with for play and I’m envious. I will admit some of that stems from the fact that I grew up a typical boy. Doing dollies’ hair, putting on makeup, playing dress up and other stereotypical girl activities weren’t and aren’t part of my repertoire.
Now don’t get me wrong, if my daughter wants to paint my toenails then I’m all in. I don’t shy away from my supposed masculinity to play with my girls. However, I do find myself lacking good ideas that would stimulate my daughters’ creativity. I know I’m not alone because there is a whole company built on providing a monthly, age appropriate crate called KiwiCo.
KiwiCo has crates for children 24-36 months, 3-4 years of age, 5-8 years of age, and either “doodle” or “tinker” crates for kids 9-16+. Now, I can only speak to the crate for Koalas, which is what they call kids age 3-4. That being said, I highly recommend KiwiCo.
Upon opening the box, we found three activities, all quite different from each other. There was a tie dye kit to make a bag with clouds all over it, colorful transparent paper shapes to place on a sticky “frame” to create stained glass art and a rainbow pillow kit complete with stuffing. My daughter decided to make the pillow.
It was a painfully simple concept, but not one I would’ve thought of on my own. As you can see in the above photo, they cut different size half circle felt pieces with sticky backs. When placed on top of each other, it created a rainbow. It is important to note that the colors ARE in order as my daughter checked while singing “red, orange, yellow, green, blue! don’t forget the purple too!” So with my help removing the backing, she placed them on the pre-sewn white pillow. Once she was satisfied, we open the pre-measured stuffing bag and went to town. A simple velcro closure and we were done. Until the next morning where she chose to take that pillow to school over her favorite stuffed animal.
The crate I got was $9.95 as they had a $10 off coupon when I first went to the website. Each additional month will be $19.95 and I won’t be cancelling. In addition to the crate, you get 2-3 emails per week. For someone who gets hundreds of emails a day, I found this annoying at first. Then I opened one to find that hidden “unsubscribe” button and instead found more ideas for things to do with the kids. Now I just have to work up the nerve to go get lost in Hobby Lobby and find some of these idea “ingredients” for myself. But if I can buy tampons for my wife, she can buy me craft supplies.
