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 June 2020 Girls Can! Crate!
Everything was shipped in a bright red box with the Girls Can! Crate logo on top.
A peek inside!
June’s featured “fearless woman” was Ava DuVernay — the passionate filmmaker who became the first African American woman to win Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival. 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 expose their children to more culturally diverse characters and stories.
Activity Book
A 20-page, full color activity book included the story of Ava DuVernay and her passion for telling stories that focus on people & subjects that are often overlooked by other filmmakers. It also included puzzles, games, experiments, and more. All of the activity instructions were printed in the booklet as well.
Challenge #1: Build a Shadow Theater
The first activity had us building a shadow theater and telling a story with shadow puppets. Materials included a shadow theater frame, theater top, vellum sheet, puppets, 3 wood sticks, 2 clothespins, glue dots, a folded card, and a flameless tea light candle.
First, we needed to assemble the stage by placing glue dots along the “curtain” and securing the theater top over it.
Next, we flipped the stage over and adhered more glue dots that would hold the vellum sheet in place (shown later).
Then it was time to “pop out” all of the shadow puppets. Themes included fairytales, outer space, and cowgirl/desert.
Next, we built two puppet holders out of clothespins, glue dots, and wooden sticks. (I forgot to snap a photo of the finished holders, but you can see their silhouette in the photos below.)
To make the light holder, we simply folded our piece of cardstock in half and secured a small wooden stick to the bottom with glue dots.
We then propped the light on top of the card and voilà! — official stage lighting!
Here’s our theater all set up. Show time!
Sadly, our starring snake & cactus were a little blurry in the photo above due to their face-paced scene. It was a wild one. 😉
Challenge #2: Make a Thaumatrope
The second activity was to make our own thaumatrope — an animation toy that creates the illusion of two pictures blending into one. Materials included 1 wood slotted dowel, animation cards, and sticky foam.
The first step was to cut out all of the animation cards along the dotted lines.
Once cut out, we needed to secure a foam square to the bottom center of each card to sandwich it together.
Some of the cards were blank for you to create your own designs. The card above already had a plain yellow circle on one side and you were to draw your own emoji face on the other.
Once drawn, we placed the card into the slot on the provided wooden dowel to make it “come alive”.
It was hard to capture in a photo due to the movement, but you can sort of see (at an angle) how the emoji face and yellow circle blend into a single image as you spin the dowel between your hands quickly. Cool!
Challenge #3: Popping Experiment
The third activity had us making popcorn! Materials included popcorn kernels, a parchment bag, and a classic popcorn bag.
I had always thought you needed to add oil or butter to kernels in order for them to pop without burning, but nope! — All we had to do was pour the included kernels into the parchment bag, fold the opening a few times to close it, and set it in the microwave for 3-5 minutes.
After about 4 minutes or so, the popping slowed down and we removed the bag from the microwave. — Success! We then added some butter-flavored popcorn oil & a sprinkle of seasoning and transferred it to the popcorn bag.
There was actually more than enough to fill the bag above so each of the girls got their own full bag of fresh popcorn to enjoy. 🙂
Once all of the activities were complete, we had officially earned our Ava DuVernay collectible button. 
June’s Girls Can! Crate was a fun way to spend an otherwise uneventful summer evening. The girls enjoyed assembling the puppet theater and experimenting with the thaumatrope. When their “work” was complete they got to relax with some freshly-popped popcorn that they “made” all by themselves. 🙂 — Remember for a limited time, you can save 20% on your first month with coupon code “WELCOME20“!
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