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 October 2020 Girls Can! Crate!
Everything was shipped in a bright red box with the Girls Can! Crate logo on top.
A peek inside!
October’s featured “fearless woman” was Grace O’Malley — one of the most famous female pirates of all time! 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 just as bold as Grace.
Activity Book
A 20-page, full color activity book included the story of Grace O’Malley and how she fearlessly stood her ground and became one of the most legendary female pirates in the world. It also included puzzles, games, experiments, and more. All of the activity instructions were printed in the booklet as well.
Challenge #1: Hide Yer Treasure Game
The first activity had us playing a strategic “Hide Yer Treasure” game. Materials included 2 game boards, 2 washable markers, gold coins, and multi-colored gems.
There wasn’t much to set up prior to playing the game. You just had to divide the jewels/coins between both players and have them place (“hide”) them around the board.
To play, each player was to take turns guessing which square their partner hid their treasure in by naming the letter & number (coordinates) of a square. If there was no treasure in that spot, that same player would make an “X” on the top portion of their game board so they knew not to guess that same spot again.
When a player does guess one of the squares that has a treasure, they draw an “O” on the board and collect the jewel/coin from the other player. The game continues until one player collects ALL of the treasure from their opponent’s board.
Challenge #2: Build a Cannon
The second activity was to build a working cannon. Materials included a cannon top, cannon bottom, 2 side pieces, 2 wheels, 2 t-bars, 1 scope, a rubber band, ball, 2 stickers, and a target coloring sheet.
The first step was to add side stickers to each of the side pieces.
With stickers in place, we needed to then attach both side pieces to the cannon bottom.
The cannon top was to be secured in place next, with the small slit on top aligning with the flames.
We then attached both of the wheels and locked them in place with two wooden t-bars.
Unfortunately, this is where our build ended… After threading the red rubber band through the wooden bead above, we had to slide one end of the rubber brand over the bottom of a t-bar — which broke the piece above as soon as we stretched it (the rubber band). 🙁 We were a little sad that we couldn’t see how the finished cannon worked, but what can ya do.
Challenge #3: Make Yer Own Sea Glass
The third activity had us making our own edible sea glass. Materials included a packet of “sea glass mixture” and a circle of parchment paper.
The first step was to place the round parchment paper into a bowl and pour the “sea glass” crystals inside.
Next, we added 1 1/2 teaspoons of water into the powder and stirred it up.
Once all mixed, the bowl was placed in the microwave for 60 seconds (or until it began to bubble).
After microwaving, we had to remove the mixture/parchment paper from the bowl and lay it on a flat surface to cool for one hour.
I’m not sure if we let it sit too long (it was well over an hour) or what, but a good portion of the “glass” stuck to the parchment paper and was hard to remove. So it wasn’t exactly edible, but it did look like glass!
Once all of the activities were complete, we had officially earned our Grace O’Malley collectible button. 
Our October 2020 Girls Can! Crate didn’t quite go as planned. The cannon breaking during the build was a bit of a bummer and the sea glass sticking to the parchment wasn’t too cool… But hiccups aside, my kiddos still enjoyed learning about Grace O’ Malley and spent way longer than I expected on the treasure game (it’s quite time-consuming!). So not all was lost. 😉 — Remember for a limited time, you can save 20% on your first month with coupon code “WELCOME20“!
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