I have heard of monthly subscription boxes sent via mail, such as beauty boxes and art and craft boxes. However, this is the first time I have come across a children’s educational activity subscription box, and I must say I thought it was a great concept. The kids were really excited to receive such a box, and when I informed #5 that the box and its contents were all his, he widened his eyes incredulously and repeated “All MINE?” He couldn’t quite believe his good fortune. That’s because around here, most things are shared property.
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| Fun activities in a box |
This activity box is driven by a storybook, and every month, there will be activities centred around a different theme. Each box contains around 4-5 activities which are suitable for children from 3-7 years of age.
The activities in this month’s box are: Making a safari jeep, painting animals to build a safari, learning facts about safari animals, reading a storybook on animals, and a board game.
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| #5 couldn’t wait to get started |
This activity set is created with family bonding in mind, and the activities and games require parental guidance and involvement. #5 immediately zoomed in on the safari jeep as he loves to build things. As he is already 7, he was able to read the instructions by himself and construct the jeep. I just sat by him and watched him in action. It’s really nice to watch your child deep in concentration, and I could almost see the cogs in his brain turning as he was figuring out how to piece the jeep together.
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| Concentrating hard |
Halfway through, he got stuck as he could not attach the body of the jeep to the base. He asked me for help, and I realised he had turned the base the wrong way around.
Ta-da! The finished safari jeep. The older girls came around and they commented that it was a very nice looking vehicle.
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| Safari jeep |
Now it was time to add some wild animals to complete the safari. He had to detach the animals from the cardboard cut-out and fit them onto the stand. “That’s simple, mummy”. (Ah-huh. After making the jeep, this one was a piece of cake to assemble.)
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| Unpainted animals |
Finger paints were included in the set to make patterns on the cardboard animals. This was a fun change for him, as he hasn’t touched finger paints in years.
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| Safari all ready for pretend play |
He ran out of steam halfway and asked me to finish painting them nicely for him while he took a rest and read up on the animal facts.
He completed all the drawings of the animals then he went on to read the storybook. Every month, there will be a different story where the children join Flinto on his adventures with his friends.
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| Flinto the Octopus |
The last activity was the board game. #5 loves board games and was excited to try this new game. It was a fairly simple matching game which took us about 15 minutes to play. That evening, when his por por came over, he took out the game and asked her to play with him. Guess he enjoyed it!
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| Matching game |
iNbox is currently available only through smartalley.com.sg or myinbox.sg.
Sane tip: This is a great activity box which I can do with #5 for an afternoon of mummy-son bonding time!
Save tip: There’s a promotional price going on at the moment, which ends 31st March 2014.