Introducing Toucan Box…
Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know, I am a massive fan of all things craft! 🙂 Now I have 2 children, I vowed that every Friday, my eldest and I would sit down a make something together. Not only does this give her quality one on one time with me, but can also be done whilst my baby sleeps. Erin loves it, and I feel far less guilty for not giving her the attention she had been used to prior to her sister’s arrival!
I was recently approached by Toucan Box to review their craft subscription box service – a flexible subscription service offering creative craft boxes for children aged 3-8 years. Coming up with my own ideas for creations can be difficult, so I was looking forward to having someone else do that hard work for me, and concentrate on the creating instead! 🙂
About Toucan Box
Toucan box is a craft subscription box service bringing creative projects to your doorstep so that you can spend less time trawling through toy stores and more time making mini masterpieces with your children! All their activities have been designed by educational experts to challenge children’s problem-solving skills and aid their creative development.
Boxes are available in three different sizes
- Petite – a fortnightly box with 1 exciting activity – £3.95 + 98p postage
- Grand – a monthly box with 2 exciting activities and a book to enjoy together – £9.99 + 2.95 postage
- Super – a monthly box with 4 exciting activities and a book to enjoy together – £16.95 + 2.95 postage
The subscription can be cancelled or paused at any time (no commitments what so ever), and come perfectly sized to fit through your letter box, so no need to wait in for delivery. The boxes are bright and colourful and are personalised with your child’s name.
Our Experience
We received our first petite Toucan Box craft subscription box yesterday for our daughter who is 3 years old. Erin was super excited when she saw the little box that had her name on the front, and was very keen to open it up and see what was inside. You can see our unboxing video here:
This particular Toucan Box was a special edition box for Christmas, with everything we needed inside to make our own festive decorations – including candy canes and a snowflake. These looked super cute and were something that I knew Erin would enjoy hanging on the tree afterwards!
At first sight, I was a little concerned that it may be a bit fiddly for Erin to do, as the beads are quite small. That said, she actually surprised me with how much her fine motor skills had developed since we last did a threading activity.
Mummy did have to help her a little, including starting her off with the beads and creating the loop at the end of the candy cane. The snowflake involved a bit more Mummy assistance, in terms of bending the three pipe cleaners together to form the snowflake shape.
The Toucan Box activity kept Erin content for at least 30 minutes, and she was over the moon with her creations.
There was minimal waste (some beads left over), so the quantities provided are more than sufficient for the projects described. The Toucan box also contained an activity booklet and a sticker, both of which Erin appreciated.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Toucan Box craft box with Erin, and we are looking forward to the next one’s arrival! 🙂
Pros:
- Everything you need is in the box in just the right quantities, no more running off to the craft store and buying things in HUGE sizes just for one simple project. I am guilty of spending £20 a time in Hobbycraft just to make one simple project, so this is definitely a good money saving exercise!
- Fun one on one time with your little one.
- Tailored to age by educational experts.
- High quality craft creations and something I wouldn’t have been able to come up with myself!
- Subscription can be cancelled at any time.
Cons:
- Like with all subscriptions you need to stay on top of your account. If you forget to pause when you go on holiday, you will still be charged as the boxes are posted out. That said, the boxes can always be stockpiled for a rainy day!
- Being picky, but the personalisation could be better – the name on the front of the box wasn’t central or straight, and for someone with a little bit of OCD this could have been better. It felt like it had been a little rushed during packing!
- If you have younger siblings, you do need to be conscious of the small parts. If my youngest was on the move or crawling, I think I would be a bit paranoid about some of the beads falling off on to the floor! “
You can learn more about Toucan Box on their website. If you like Christmas Crafts, you may also like – Potato Print Baubles and Make Your Own Handprint Reindeer TShirts.
*Disclosure – we were given a short term Toucan Box subscription in return for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Sounds like a great idea. I’m also one of these people who spends a fortune in Hobbycraft or in the supermarket buying ingredients just to make one small cake It’s so sweet that you have that time set aside on a Friday to do crafts as well. Love it.
i haven’t read the whole post but i must say the review is so biased. i couldnt see any mention of the price which is what the other reviewers on toucan from the web seem to talk about. Not that it’s mega high but one could 1. go to poundshop for less 2. most mums probably have a drawer or two full of crafty stuff anyway and need not pay for a box.
My worst part of the review was the ‘lack of personalisation’ on the box from outside.. i mean seriously you say your daughter is 3- most 3 year olds dont read even, how could something like that or the lack of it make any difference to her, or to anyone her age or even their parents.. you say it’s your ocd but i clearly see it’s your pathetic attempt at trying to find a negative point without doing the business any harm.
i came across this website as I was websearching for reviews on the toucanbox but i must admit this dishonest review had put me off enough.
I’m sorry you feel it is a dishonest review however it’s not. I have no reason to be dishonest, all my reviews are honest as otherwise I don’t see the point in writing them at all. My daughter at 3 whilst she couldn’t read could recognise her own name. She had learned to recognise the E and as such could normally tell if her name was written somewhere. Also the boxes are advertised as being personalised and as such that is what I expected – as you say for the price you expect something more, and for me as a parent I thought the name element was a really nice touch and something exciting when it comes through the letter box. I haven’t referred to price and try to avoid doing so as money and value for money is quite subjective particularly for subscription boxes and such the like. What is expensive for me may not be for you. Whilst a Mum ‘may’ have a box full of crafty stuff they may lack ideas for what to do with it- I for one wouldn’t have thought to do my own Christmas decorations using beads. We still have the decorations on our tree two years on. I’m sorry you didn’t find the review helpful. Lucy