Kiwi Crate - May 2015 "Science of Color"

Back in early may I tried a $5 mini box from Kiwi Crate which contained everything we needed to make two wind cars:

We had a lot of fun making them and playing with them after. It also made me curious about what a full sized Kiwi Crate contains. The mini box signed me up for a regular subscription so instead of cancelling, I went ahead with letting the first box come.

Our first box was called Science of Color. I was pretty excited when it came and couldn't wait to see the activities it had for us. I will admit that $20 a month is steep, to me, for what I thought were just crafts but it did contain everything we needed for the projects (except water hahaha). There were two activities, a bonus activity, and a booklet comes with it that has suggestions for more things to do. So far, I was impressed.

The contents of the box

"Color Separation Lab"

Spin Art!

Bonus color experiment activity and the booklet
(which has a cut out/pop up rainbow activity)

I admit to letting the box sit around for a while. I thought we had plenty of time to do it and the weekends had been so nice that I didn't want us stuck inside. But this past weekend was ungodly hot outside (AND our June box has shipped) so it seemed like a good weekend for some inside activities. On Saturday we did the Color Separation Lab.

Getting set up.

They give you very detailed instructions for each project. For this one, you color on the "mess mat" with the marker color you're using and you draw a thick line of that color on a strip of paper (provided) and then fold it and stick it in the water. The paper slowly absorbs the water and when it gets to the marker lines, it separates. And the mini-scientist notes on the mat what colors they see.

He liked watching the water soak into the paper and work it's magic.

Noting his findings :)

When you're done and your strips of paper are dry, there is a rope you can hang up and little clothes pins to hang up your paper strips like a fun little garland.

So project #1 was a success.

Sunday we did the Spin Art! I was so excited to show Grant this! Though because how "school-like" the first project was, I think he wasn't looking forward to it as much as I wanted him to. But when we got it together, he was really excited to start.

See how detailed the instructions are?

For this one they sent you stuff to basically make a top and you spin the top in the box. They sent several paper disks that fit onto the top and watery paints to be squirted onto the spinning top with a dropper (all included). Grant got heavy handed with the paints they provided so I sort of made more with food coloring I had and water. I don't think my homemade version worked as well as the ones sent in the box, but Grant thought it was great that he didn't have to skimp on t he paints and had no complaints about them.

He really loved this activity!

Some of the finished artwork

This acitivity was a HUGE hit with Grant. And even though it looks like it should have been messy, there was very little clean up involved. They sent enough paper disks for him to make 8 pieces of spin-artwork. He was so excited about what he made that he was asking to send them to people (Gramma, my sister, etc). And because the top was made of wood and they sent spare pastic pieces, we can keep the top and do this project again (if I cut out some paper circles that fit). 

We haven't done the bonus activity yet or the pop-up rainbow (that requires a gluestick that I don't have) but the two main activities were pretty great. They tell you in the instructions the level of parent involvement and I found that to be pretty accurate. Grant could do a lot of it by himself but still needed my help with stuff too (like putting the top together, for instance). When I checked my account after getting an email that our June box shipped, I saw that it's called Backyard Adventure. I'm excited to see what that one has for us!