So today I am bringing you a slightly different post to my usual bookish related ramblings. Today I am going to be reviewing an activity box for young children made by Little hands Big Ideas. These boxes are made by two teachers who now design activity and craft kits inspired by nature, art and Stories for children. I was sent a box in order to review the kit and so below is my review with photos of all the lovely things within it!
So when the box arrived through our letterbox we were so excited! Rory knew that this time the parcel posted was actually his as opposed to the many book parcels that arrive on our doorstep for mummy!
He ripped it open straight away and we were very happy with the contents. It was packaged up beautifully, a cardboard box when opened contained all the contents wrapped neatly in tissue paper which was a joy to open for Rory, it honestly felt like a present! It was even personalised with his name which I thought was such a great touch.
On the inside of the box was a printed list of all the activities within which again was a great attention to detail and made it all the more special to open.
Inside we found a lovely set of activities based around a theme, this boxes theme was Jack and the Beanstalk, a story that Rory really loves at the moment so it was very well timed. Each activity had a hand written note that explained what you needed to do with it and everything within was environmentally friendly from the materials the activities were made with to the packaging. There were only a couple of plastic bags holding items and as they were the beans for growing I thought that it was acceptable as you want them to stay airtight. There was even an added treat of a packet of sweets, which needless to say did not last two seconds. They were demolished before I could even unpack the rest of the contents!
So lets have look at all the lovely activities that were included in the box.....
Reading
A 'Jack and the beanstalk' themed box would not be complete without a book of the fairytale included, this was a lovely version that we actually haven't read before so it was a great addition to our home library.
Maths Skills
There were some lovely measuring activities - ordering different beanstalks according to size and measuring things that were bigger or smaller than the giants foot. This gave us a great opportunity to use some maths vocabulary when completing the activity and opened up some great discussion.
Science skills
One of the activities was to grow a beanstalk of your own. Rory loved this as he could plant and look after it himself, again it gave us a chance to use scientific and mathematical language when measuring the beanstalk, talking through why we needed soil and water to make it grow.
Art
There were a few art activities also, a colouring sheet with crayons included and a paint your own castle, they even included a set of miniature paints which was fabulous! The castle was wooden so very sturdy and allowed Rory to be creative.
The activity box opened up so much opportunity to have discussion using key vocabulary in a fun setting. As a teacher I know the importance of building language and vocabulary into anything we do so it helped learning through play.
Rory got into the experience so much that it caused him to want to build his own castle with lego (helped by mummy) and then he played contentedly for ages with his characters pretending to be Jack and the Giant. We even used the beanstalks from the activity pack to create a beanstalk that climbed up the chair leg until it reached the castle.
Overall this pack was a great addition to our at home activities, it kept Rory engaged, had lots of different skills included from English, Maths and Science to Art. It led to a lot of discussion and was a great quality product. The items were well made and I feel it was great value for money.
If you are looking for activity boxes like this for your children you can find them to purchase at Etsy.com/littlehandsbigideas1 ranging from £13 to £20 per box. There are lots of other sets on the site too at varying prices.
You can also follow them on instagram @littlehandsbigideas
I wish this duo luck as they continue on with their venture, I was very impressed with my activity box and I will certainly be looking at other sets in the future to entertain my little munchkin. There kits are great for rainy holiday days!