December Ivy Kids time! We haven’t gotten a chance to review this box for a couple months, so I was happy when they offered to send me December’s box a couple weeks ago. The theme is absolutely adorable.
Subscriptions are $38.95/month, or less with multi-month commitments. — You can save 20% on your first box with coupon code “IVY20“! Past kits are also available in their online shop for 10% off with coupon code “IVYWINTER” (good thru 2/29/16).
“Penguin and Pinecone” by Salina Yoon – I think this has got to be the cutest book Ivy Kids has featured! It’s a sweet story about a penguin who finds a pinecone whom he befriends and must take back to the forest with the other pinecones. When he goes back to find him again years later, pinecone looks a LOT different. 😉
Every box includes a personalized item for your child/children. This month it was a little penguin-shaped notepad. Cute!
Story Retelling – The first activity included a set of props for your child to use in retelling the story of “Penguin and Pinecone”. There was a little tree, some orange felt to make a scarf, a wooden sled with a red “rope” to pull it, a pinecone, and a plush penguin.
Penguin Walk – My kiddos love the alphabet and anything involving letters, so they were all about this game. All you do is place the penguin wind-up toy on the letter board and see where he stops. You child then calls out that letter and the sounds it makes. You can also ask them to say a word that begins with that letter. I gotta say, for being 3 1/2, my girls did crazy good with associating words. I must be doing something right. 😉
Decorating Your Pinecone – This was a fun activity that simply involved decorating pinecones. Plenty of materials were provided including paint, brushes, glitter glue, regular glue, and multi-color mini pom-poms.
Pinecone Observation and Experimentation – A pinecone fact sheet was provided for your child to learn more about them and how they grow. Using the included pinecone, your child could fill out an observation sheet with details they notice about it (its shape, color, texture, etc.).
Pinecone Experiment: What Happens When a Pinecone Gets Wet? – We didn’t do this experiment yet, but after reading the sheet I totally need to do it. I honestly had no idea that pinecones close up when they get wet! Is that common knowledge? I mean, I’ve seen closed pinecones before but I guess I just figured they were a different type… Wow. Mind blown.
Paper Bag Penguin – This activity included everything you need to make a paper bag penguin. Even white pom-poms for the belly and orange paper to trace your child’s hands for its feet.
I love how different they look even though both girls used the same materials. I also love how it looks like they’re both side-eying one another. Ha!
Feed the Penguin – Once the penguin bag is complete, you can use the little colored fish to feed him. Just roll the dice and whichever number comes up is the amount of fish the penguin gets to eat.
Snowflake Mobile – The girls aren’t too skilled at lacing yet (and there was a LOT involved here), so they worked on punching out the holes on the snowflakes while I laced them.
I only ended up doing 3, since the girls were antsy to move onto other activities. I don’t blame ’em. 😉
Five in a Row Penguin Bingo – We had fun with this one. It’s basically played like bingo, but with a more limited amount of numbers which are repeated throughout the board. When it’s your turn, you roll the dice and whatever number comes up is what you stamp on your board. Once you get five stamps in a row, you win!
Planting a Pine Tree – Using the included pot, soil pellet, and loblolly seeds, your child can grown their own pine tree! Neat.
Penguin’s Journey – There’s always a cute board game in every Ivy Kids box. This time it involves moving your penguin along the path to the forest to visit pinecone, collecting colorful fish on the way.
December’s Ivy Kids box was definitely one of our favorites yet! The book/theme were great and my girls had lots of fun with all the activities. We tried to fit in as many as we could in one evening for review purposes, but there’s still quite a few activities left. You could easily stretch this box out for a couple weekends or more. Since so many of them can be reused/played with again, there’s really no limit to how long it’ll keep little ones busy. 🙂
If you’re interested in signing up for Ivy Kids, you can save 20% on your first box just by using the promo code “IVY20” at checkout. And don’t forget, past kits (including this one) are also available in their online shop for 10% off with coupon code “IVYWINTER” (good thru 2/29/16).
LOVED this box! So many great activities, games, and crafts -- all centered around an adorable book. One of our favorites to date!