The nice guys over at Kids Prize Pack sent me a sample box for my son, C. The boxes are geared toward ages 4 – 8, and my boy is just a few months shy of 4. To be fair, he wasn’t quite old enough for a few of the products. But let me tell you about the stuff that was appropriate for him. By the way, the theme of the box was Superheroes.
First, he LOVED getting the Kids Prize Pack in the mail. The timing worked out perfectly, as we went to the grocery store and came home to find the bright blue box on the porch. He was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to open it. I put my mom hat on and told him he had to wait; we were taking a weekend trip that night and were going to be in the car, so I thought it would be something fun for him to do in the car. (Hindsight is 20/20. Nothing wrong at all with the idea, it just wasn’t really good for the car. Because, pieces.)
When we hit the road that evening, the first thing he pulled out of the box was a 48-piece Spider-man puzzle. Sorry, buddy, no can do in the car. (We did do the puzzle when we got home. I’m not good at puzzles, but I liked this one. Perhaps I should start buying puzzles for myself geared toward ages 4 – 8.)
Next he pulled out a coloring book and some crayons. He’s not huge into coloring, so he moved right along. On another note, in addition to the coloring book, the Kids Prize Pack contained a cool velvet coloring page of Ironman. You know, the kind that makes you look like you’re really great at coloring inside the lines. That was pretty fun. There was also a Faber-Castell mini art kit containing a 2-pack of colored pencils, two beeswax crayons that were large and perfect for little hands, and some gel crayons that I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but really want to.
Finally, he arrived at something that his mean mom would let him play with in the car, which was a small Spider-man figurine by Playskool. He entertained himself with that for a while, and then moved on to a Transformer-like character, which had a few pieces to it. I’m not a mom who enjoys assembling tiny pieces in a car for a preschooler, so I told him to wait until we arrived at our destination. When we did, I put it together, and he loved it. (Note that this is nothing against the Kids Prize Pack; this is me and a hatred of any toy with more than one piece. His Lincoln Logs, shape sorter, and all puzzles are high out of his reach at home because I just can’t.)
Next in the box was a sheet of sparkly superhero stickers, with Ironman, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and more. He adored those! There was also a fun Marvel stencil sheet. Mom might have had more fun with those.
(I just took a closer look and realized that the Kids Prize Pack contains a Marvel The Avengers Play Pack Grab & Go. That contained the velvet poster, crayons, stencil, stickers and a 24-page coloring book. The kid separated everything before I got a chance to look. The Play Pack might be my favorite thing, because I liked all of the items in it.)
What makes Kids Prize Pack different than other subscription companies is their “Book in the Box Guarantee.” According to the founders, the theory is, if a child is excited about a toy, he or she will be eager to read a book on the same topic. My son’s box contained Level 2 World of Reading: The Story of Spider-man and Scholastic paperback Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants. Both are above my preschooler’s reading level but I will definitely keep both for when he’s older. Because he’s a boy, he always laughs at words such as “booger” or “poop”, so I imagine he’ll adore Captain Underpants!
All in all, I think Kids Prize Pack is a winner. Not only do children love to receive packages in the mail, the presentation was great, and did very well in keeping with the theme. The items in the box ran from reading to freeplay to art and critical thinking, so there is a wonderful variety. Also, my son has had his Kids Prize Pack for three weeks now, and is still playing with the toys on a daily basis. He’s even resorted to carrying around the empty box.
For more information on Kids Prize Pack, please visit the website and subscribe today! Your child will thank you.
-MCM Staffer Ashley and C’s mom,
who wants her boy to be happy
but really doesn’t like pieces
