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 July 2019 Girls Can! Crate!
Everything was shipped in a bright red box with the Girls Can! Crate logo on top.
A peek inside!
July’s featured “fearless woman” was Wangari Maathai, an African woman known for her efforts to develop the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that focuses on planting trees to replenish the environment and improve the quality of life. 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 foster Wangari’s problem solving abilities in their own children.
Activity Book
A 20-page, full color activity book included the story of Wangari Maathai and the importance of trees on our ecosystem. It also included additional information on conserving resources, along with puzzles, games, experiments, a recipe, and more. All of the activity instructions were printed in the booklet as well.
Activity #1: Growing Seedlings
The first activity had us growing our own sunflowers to add a little more beauty to the world. Materials provided were 2 peat pots, 2 peat pellets, a plastic pipette, sunflower seeds, two wooden stakes, and a growth chart to track the plants’ progress.
First, we placed one peat pellet into each of the peat pots. We worked inside of the Girls Can! Crate box to make things less messy. 😉
Next, we filled a cup of water and used the plastic pipette to add water onto the pellets until they fully expanded.
Once expanded, we fluffed the soil and used the wooden stake to carve out a hole for the seeds.
In they go!
All planted. Now the growing begins… 🙂
Activity #2: Upcycled Wind Chime
The second activity had us making a colorful wind chime using upcycled items. Materials included a yellow metal lid, multi-colored paperclips, ribbon, 4 bottle caps, white plastic beads, and 4 metal bells.
The first step was to tie a knot at the end of the ribbon 3-4 inches from the end. Starting at the opposite end, we had to slide on one of the white beads, followed by a bottle cap, then 5 more beads.
We were to repeat the same pattern of beads/caps until all 4 bottle caps had been used.
Next, we fed the ribbon up through the center hole on the metal lid and secured it in place with another plastic bead. We then had to fold the remaining portion of ribbon in half and tie a loop knot against the bead to hold it in place and act as a hanger.
Then it was time for paperclips! We had to hook them together in links of 5 and hang a metal bell at the end of each one.
Not the best photo, but you can see that we made 4 chains total.
The final step was to hook each chain onto the metal lid using the small holes as shown above.
The end result! — I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bells lined right up with the last bottle caps, which did produce a wind chime-y sound. 🙂
Bonus Activity
There was also a bonus activity which involved using the stickers above to decorate the drawing of Wangari in the activity book.
My girls loved her headwrap and kept saying how “cute” she looked. (I’m guessing this was partly due to her pink doll-like cheeks. 😉 )
The inspirational speech bubbles and cute insects were also a fun addition.
Once all of the activities were complete, we had officially earned our Wangari Maathai collectible button. 🙂
Another fun & engaging box from Girls Can! Crate! My girls enjoyed learning all about the accomplishments of Wangari Maathai and how important it is to protect our natural resources. The activities were easy to complete and I’m happy to report that our sunflowers have already sprouted. 😀
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