Girls Can! Crate is a monthly subscription box that inspires girls ages 5-10 to believe they can be and do anything by introducing them to fearless women who made the world better.
Each box will include a 20-page activity book telling the featured woman’s unique story (as well as games, experiments, & more), 2-3 hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activities related to her field, a creative play prop, a featured character trait that helped her succeed and 2-3 practical tips for parents to easily foster that trait, and more. The boxes are designed to encourage a love for STEAM, to foster creativity, curiosity, and support literacy development. With every box purchased, Girls Can! Crate donates 10% of the proceeds to nonprofit organizations working to empower women and girls.
Disclosure: I received this box for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate and/or referral links.
Subscriptions are $29.95/month or less with multi-month commitments. Shipping is free within the US.
Let’s see what’s in my August 2019 Girls Can! Crate!
Everything was shipped in a bright red box with the Girls Can! Crate logo on top.
A peek inside!
August’s featured “fearless woman” was Irena Sendler, a Polish nurse & social worker who helped save over 2,500 children during the Holocaust. An information card listed all of the activities in the crate and the order in which they should be completed. The reverse side included tips for parents on how to help their own children to emulate Sendler’s willingness to stand up for and help other people.
Activity Book
A 20-page, full color activity book included the story of Irena Sendler and how she was able to sneak babies past the Nazis and give them new (non-Polish) names to protect them from the Germans. It also included puzzles, games, experiments, and more. All of the activity instructions were printed in the booklet as well.
Due to the sensitive nature of the Holocaust, Girls Can! Crate also included a separate guide to how to explain the subject to different age groups.
Activity #1: Spy Decoder
The first activity had us assembling our own spy decoder and solving secret messages. Materials provided were 2 decoder circles, a metal brad, and practice pages.
The first step was to insert the metal brad into the center of both circles with the smaller one on top.
I didn’t think to snap a photo of the assembled decoder, but it consisted of two rows of letters (you can see part of it in the lower left corner). To solve the secret messages, you needed to first line up the letter “A” on the outer red circle with the letter “N” on the white inner circle. Keeping this position, you were to replace each letter on the provided sheet with the corresponding letter on the decoder. My daughter easily solved the first line (“You can do it!”), but was then anxious to move on to the other activities.
Activity #2: Disappearing Paper
The second activity involved using disappearing paper to get rid of secret information. A few sheets of “spy paper” were included, which required the use of our own marker, scissors, and bowl of water.
First, we cut a sheet of the paper into strips and wrote “secret messages” on them.
We then placed the message(s) into a bowl of plain tap water.
Within seconds, the paper started to disintegrate and break apart in my daughter’s hand…
…Until it all that was left was a gel-like sludge. Needless to say, my kids thought this was the coolest thing ever and repeated the “experiment” a few more times. 😉
Activity #3: Spy Viewer
The third activity was to build our own secret spy viewer. Materials provided were a secret viewer frame, 2 small mirrors, and 12 glue dots.
Assembly was pretty straight-forward. We simply had to fold down the flaps on each end of the viewer and secure them with the provided glue dots. Once secured, we then used the remaining glue dots to attach mirrors to each end.
The viewer allowed my girls to “spy” on each other from around corners, which they thought was super neat. (Don’t mind that pile of dirty towels — laundry day! 😉 )
Activity #4: Make a Secret Storage Book
A 4th “bonus” activity involved making (decorating) a secret storage book. Materials provided were a paper mache book and a watercolor paint set.
This activity was fairly self-explanatory — just paint the book! 😉
Once finished/dried, the girls will be able to place it on a shelf and hide little “treasures” inside. Cute!
Once all of the activities were complete, we had officially earned our Irena Sendler collectible button. 🙂
We really enjoyed the spy-themed activities in this month’s Girls Can! Crate. I had never heard of Irena Sendler, so it was a learning experience for not only my kids, but myself as well. It was also nice to see more activities than usual, plus a bonus one! 🙂
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