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. — For a limited time, you can save 20% on your first month with coupon code “WELCOME20“!
Let’s see what’s in my January 2021 Girls Can! Crate!
Everything was shipped in a bright red box with the Girls Can! Crate logo on top.
A peek inside!
January’s featured “fearless woman” was Patricia O’Connor — the first female zoo veterinarian in the United States. 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 to encourage their girls to be zealous just like Patricia.
Activity Book
A 20-page, full color activity book included the story of Patricia O’Connor and how her passion for helping animals and determination to succeed in the field led her to become the first female zoo veterinarian in the US. It also included puzzles, games, experiments, and more. All of the activity instructions were printed in the booklet as well.
Challenge #1: Dig into Owl Pellets
The first activity had us exploring owl pellets (vomit) to understand more about what they eat. Materials included 1 sterile owl pellet, tools (a wooden dowel/stick and plastic tweezers), a bone sheet/guide, and a plastic petri dish.
At first, the girls were a bit leery about digging into a big ol’ hunk of owl puke, but they eventually came around. 😉 We placed the petri dish inside of our empty Girls Can! box to contain the mess and began the dissection.
As gross as it was, I do have to admit it was neat to reveal all of the various bones hidden inside. It was like one of those surprise egg toys, but with dead animal parts instead of plastic trinkets. Ha.
In the end, these were all of the bones we discovered. (There were also a TON of tiny ones — ribs I think? — that we left behind.)
The bones with teeth intact (shrew skulls?) were especially neat/creepy.
Challenge #2: Sew Animal Friends
The second activity was to create a trio of felt friends that represented 3 kinds of animals — birds, mammals, and reptiles. Materials included pre-cut felt pieces, stuffing, 3 plastic needles, multi-colored thread, and plastic clips for hanging.
We decided to start with the peacock. The first step was to line up the felt pieces so that all of the pre-punched holes lined up evenly.
Next, we threaded our needle with an 18-inch length thread as specified in the instructions.
Then it was time to sew! — The small blue back part of the peacock’s body was first…
…followed by the front of the peacock’s body.
After the body was complete, we moved onto the feathers and then used the eraser end of a pencil to push the stuffing inside.
Once it was sufficiently stuffed, the rest of the feathers were stitched up and the felt sticker details were added.
Peacock completed! 🙂
Our snake! (He was a little more tricky to stuff.)
Our elephant!
Challenge #3: Experiment with Giraffe Spit
The third activity had us experimenting with “giraffe spit”. Materials included a packet of giraffe spit activator (cornstarch) and a plastic bowl with lid.
The photo above shows where everything went wrong with this one… We had already poured the packet of “giraffe spit” into the plastic bowl and added what I thought was 1 TBSP of water. The photo above is us adding the second TBSP of water. Except that the measuring spoon I used was actually 2 TBSP so instead of adding a total of 2 TBSP, we added 4. 🙁
Needless to say, the end result was not as fun to play with as it was intended to be. If done correctly, the “spit” would have been liquid when held in your hands, but turned solid when pressure was put upon it. I remember making this same concoction as a kid and it was pretty neat, so I’ll have to make a point to pick up some cornstarch next time I go shopping. 🙂
Once all of the activities were complete, we had officially earned our Patricia O’Connor collectible button. 
January’s Girls Can! Crate was one of our favorites to date! The owl pellet, though kind of gross, was surprisingly neat to explore. The girls’ favorite activity was definitely the animal friends that they got to sew. The giraffe spit would have been cool if I didn’t goof up the water measurements, but I’ll make sure we try again with some new cornstarch. 🙂 — Remember for a limited time, you can save 20% on your first month with coupon code “WELCOME20“!
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