Discover Nepal – A KiwiCo Review: Atlas Crate for 6-11 Year Olds (Deluxe Box)

What is in the Nepal crate?

You begin by opening your travel mail from Milo and Anya to find out about their latest travel adventures! Miss 6 enjoys seeing all the photos in Nepal.

There is a passport sticker to add to our Adventure Passport and various cards about Nepal to add to it as well. These range from a country map and cultural information, to activity cards with things to do. Learn: some Nepali greetings and phrases; about the Nepalese flag (unique in the world for it’s double triangle design); about snow leopards – the ‘ghosts of the mountains‘; about Nepalese culture, food, and festivals; about Lung Ta “Wind-Horse” prayer flags which are commonly seen in both Nepal and Tibet; and about Mt Everest.

Our Deluxe Box Book was “Chandra’s Magic Light: A Story in Nepal“. As well as the story providing a glimpse into rural life in Nepal’s mountain villages, the book also contains seven pages of information about Nepal and instructions for making a solar-powered oven. For further reflections on using a lantern (rather than electricity), we spent some time with our night lantern that we built with our KiwiCo Stars and Constellation’s crate. Although the book was interesting, my concern was that the tone feels Colonial given that the story highlights the lack of electricity in Nepal’s mountainous countryside. In many ways, I prefer ‘Namaste!’ by Diana Cohn which uplifts Sherpa culture in its text.

Playing Bagh Chal

We love getting boardgames with our Atlas Crate! We really enjoyed playing Fanorona from Madagascar and were delighted to receive Bagh Chal with our Nepal box. Bagh means tiger and chal means move; the objective of the tigers is to eat the goats vs the goats who desire to work together and block the tigers from moving.

Making a fluffy yak and mountain zipline

We love our fluffy yak! Yak’s can have many uses in Nepal. Their hair can be woven to create clothes and blankets; their milk can be used to make butter and cheese; their dung can be used to fertilize crops or dried to create a fuel; they are also used to transport goods along mountain trails on the lower slopes of the Himalayas. Additionally, we got to put our knowledge on the Science of Tension to work by building a simple pulley and zipline capable of transporting our yak from floor to mountain. The instructions suggest affixing the mountain to a door handle but you can quite happily experiment – we prefer a bookshelf or the upper storey of the dolhouse. We’ve also discovered that our ‘lift’ is compatible with other passengers – such as Playmobil figures; if you want to help them feel extra secure, simply add an elastic band to the struts on top.

Learning about Mt Everest

Mt Everest is of special interest to us as Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander, and Tenzig Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa, made international history on 29 May 1953 by being the first known to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Some of the short videos that we enjoyed included: How to prepare and climb Mt Everest; Twinkl’s facts about Mt Everest in song; finding out why Mt Everest is so tall; learning more about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay. Looking for a short introduction to Sir Edmund Hillary? Try Twinkl’s powerpoint and follow it up by planning what to pack in your own explorer’s backpack. We also learned detailed information about both Hillary and Norgay in the beautifully illustrated “Everest – The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.”

HOW DO I ORDER ATLAS CRATE?

This is not a paid review. I spent a lot of time searching the internet to find out more information about the Kiwi Crate and Atlas Crate boxes before deciding to try them and found the blog posts / photos that people shared were really useful!

If you would like to try Atlas Crate (or one of their other lines), you can receive 50% off your first box by clicking here.

What I like about the Atlas Crate kits is that they provide a colourful and imaginative way of exploring the world through hands-on activities. I like that they use a mix of STEM and art to explore different concepts and ideas. Their products are also very well made, with clear instructions, and kids feel a real sense of pride in what they accomplish with each box.

There’s no obligation to sign-up in an on-going capacity so it’s easy to tie them in with birthdays / Christmas; the boxes are quite compact so they also store easily in a cupboard for bringing them out on a rainy day. Other families will choose to sign up for a longer period (like a 3, 6, or 12 month cycle).

WHAT IS IN AN ATLAS CRATE?

Each Atlas Crate comes with a special airmail envelope from Anya the Cricket and Milo the Sandpiper revealing where they’ve been on their latest adventure. There is a special passport sticker for your child’s Atlas Adventure Book plus seven new pages to add about a new country (highlighting geography, customs, landmarks, history, and foods).

There are supplies for two activities (which might be a mix of art, STEM, and games) as well as suggestions for more DIY activities to try at home – from things to make, to things to bake!

If you choose the Deluxe option, then you will also receive a book that helps you explore that month’s destination. This upgrade is an additional USD$9.95 (approx. $15 NZD) and can impact shipping costs as well. Since we’re homeschooling, I decided that we’d try the Deluxe option for 6 months to see how useful we find it.