Creator Nichole Smaglick calls the Cooper Kit the “Instant Dad is Awesome Box.”
The box, with a “Fly With Me” aviation theme, contains materials and instructions that dads and their kids ages 5 to 9 can use to make projects together. They can make a flying eagle, flying pig and flying shark, enjoy a catapult-building kit, and more. The 20-inch by 18-inch Cooper Kit, designed to be gender neutral and appealing to boys and girls, also has a theme dinner menu dads can use to cook for their kids.
Many companies are offering subscriptions, whether for summer or year round, that deliver kits full of hands-on learning activities designed to be fun, usually with a new kit mailed monthly or quarterly. The kits aim to keep kids busy with challenges that occupy and amuse while stimulating their brains, which is especially important to do during the summer months when school is out, educators say.
“I think they are fabulous,” Jerilyn Scott, a first-grade teacher at Sewickley Academy, says about the kits. “Too many kids are either in structured activities all summer, because their parents are trying to keep them busy and stimulated ... or sitting in front of the TV and computer because parents don't know what to do with them.”
The Cooper Kits are specifically targeted at creating a bond between fathers and children, says Smaglick, founder and owner of the Minneapolis-based Cooper & Kid company that makes the kits, now available as a quarterly subscription with a new theme every three months. “For both the dad and for the child, there are such lifelong benefits.
“The parent and the child ... are exploring the greater world together ... and how things fly,” Smaglick says. “They're learning about the aerodynamics on this planet.”
Jerilyn Scott's Chicago sister, Kendra Melodia, has preschoolers who use Kiwi Crates, designed for ages 3 to 7, and love them. The kids — Van, 5, and Chelsea, 3 — are enjoying their most recent bird-theme Kiwi Crate, which offers a June, July and August subscription special. The kids decorated bird masks, which they used to pretend like they are birds in the backyard.
Some of the kits focus on arts and crafts, while others are more intellectual. They all seem to stimulate a child's imagination and give kids something to do, Scott says. She likes how the kits offer open-ended activities, which give kids a lot of room to be creative.
“That kind of free, unstructured play is so important for kids,” she says. “That's how they really learn and grow and develop.
“There's no question that kids who don't do anything all summer lose ground over the summer when they go back to school ... and they are rusty,” Scott says. “It just keeps them mentally busy and excited. ... It keeps their brains moving and thinking and creative.”
Kathleen Harris, an assistant professor in the Seton Hill University Division of Education, agrees. She especially likes the kits that send kids outdoors to enjoy nature-theme activities, which gives them opportunities to explore, develop problem-solving and fine-motor skills, and enjoy imaginative play. Children love “discovering more about the world around them,” and “are key observers outside in nature,” says Harris, whose specialty is early-childhood education.
Wummelbox, a subscription arts-and-crafts service that is popular in Germany, playfully challenges children and promotes creativity and education. It was recently launched in the United States.
Each Wummelbox activity kit contains three to four projects with a specific theme, such as nutrition, time travel, gardening or color and light, designed to inspire children ages 3 to 8 to learn and explore the world around them. Crafts include windcatchers, kaleidoscopes, animal masks and games.
Harris recommends that parents make sure the kits they use are developmentally appropriate for a child's age and get involved with the activities along with their children.
“You want to increase their imagination, their creativity, and social and emotional development,” Harris says.
Kellie B. Gormly is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at kgormly@tribweb.com or 412-320-7824.
