Opening Our KaHone: Discovering the World in a Box

When we decided to homeschool our 3 year old V, one of my worries was that I don't consider myself artistic enough to create art activities. I still took the leap, though. Fast forward, I came across a blog about KaHone and discovered this amazing activity box subscription. It took me a few weeks before finally deciding to get a subscription from them. What made me finally get one? Their April issue!

My son can't get enough of the movie, Frozen. He loves Olaf and all the songs in it. I was able to memorize most of the songs because he likes them so much that if we were not watching the movie, he asks me to play the soundtrack on my phone. I mean, who doesn't love their foot-tapping tunes, right?

KaHone is a monthly activity box subscription for kids. They have two options for subscription - the regular and the lite boxes. Both subscriptions have activities based on the theme of the month. The difference though is that the lite boxes do not contain the standard supplies like glue, tape, etc. which was perfect for homes like ours who have these supplies already.

For the month of April, the theme of the activities was Frozen-inspired. Four activities were in the box which I will tell more about later.

After making a deposit on the bank for our subscription, KaHone was able to inform me within the day that little V's box will arrive in a day or two, and that they will send me the tracker number of the courier once it has been shipped. The weekend came and the box did not arrive. By Monday morning, I made a follow up on the tracker number. I was thinking that probably the courier was unable to deliver on time. By lunch time, our doorbell rang and expected that it was the courier. I was surprised though that a very nice lady handed over little V's box. I was so excited for the box that I forgot to ask her name, sorry.

Here's little V's box. It was cool to see that his box has his name on it. I liked the packaging - colorful and catchy. My son was so excited!

Little V's box - I had his name smudged ;)

Unboxing Kahone

Upon opening our box, a message for parents greeted us. 

Each activity was packaged in a clear plastic - materials and instructions. The instructions were visually appealing which makes it more exciting and easier to do.

Activities:

Bring the Snowman to the Beach

This was the first activity that our little man wanted to do. He loves Olaf! Since this activity required cutting and pasting, I did those steps and just helped him paste the stickers onto the pail. He molded the nose (and ears!) and placed them after I put some glue. He's now using this pail as container for some of his clay. We're heading to the beach this summer and he constantly reminds me that we will bring Olaf with us. He said Olaf loves summer!

He made ears for Olaf!

Make a Crystal Snowflake

Quite frankly, we haven't started this activity yet. This one requires that you have a wide mouth container to put the "snowflake"wire. I don't have that container yet. Still waiting for little V to finish his can of milk so we can use that.

This activity will involve hot water and borax. So my son will just have to watch me do the activity and wait for the results.

Explore Ice Excavation

This probably would be the activity that my son enjoyed (and still enjoys) the most. 

The package included several tools for excavation. My son loves tools, in fact he has several toy screw drivers, hammer, etc. He was giddy to do this activity. 

A trinket was placed at the bottom of a paper cup, and then the cup was filled with water. We placed it in the freezer and waited for a few hours before V can start excavating his ice. 

It was splendid that they included in the instructions that we place some salt on the ice and see what would happen. It melted! Now my son asks me to put some salt on his ice if he wanted them to melt easily. My 3-yr old is learning science through experiment! :)

We defrosted the fridge so here he is excavating again

The trinkets gone!

Create Loomband Bracelets

You may have noticed in Facebook photos of loom/friendship bracelets flooding your newsfeeds. For this activity, the only participation my son had was sorting the rubber bands by color. He handed them to me as I do the bracelets. I actually enjoyed it. I think I should subscribe to craft activities for myself. Boo yeah! :)

Instructions

It took me a while before grasping how it was done. The photos in the instruction sheet were a bit pixelated and it was hard for me to distinguish which is which using the images provided.

I was making bracelets while my son was busy with his ice

Finish products. Tadaaaa!

Raves:

• Personalized box - just placing my son's name on it makes it more special
• Reasonable price - I think having a subscription saves me time and energy from researching activities and buying materials. We have no house helper so this really helps me a lot since I don't always have the time to go out and/or search the net. I got a 3-months subscription (Php1,700), and with 4 activities per month, each activity would just cost me less than 150 each.
• Monthly theme - I can match the monthly theme from the activity box with our homeschool lesson plan. Since our activities were Frozen-inspired this month, I prepared writing, alphabet, and number activities that have the characters of the movie.
• Colorful and attractive
• Materials and instructions were packed together
• Bonding for parents and kids - We were both learning at the same time which was really cool.

Overall, I really liked our first box from KaHone. The activities were easy and not complex nor boring. Just perfect for our little man. We can't wait for the next box this May!

KaHone

Instagram - @kahone_art

Email - kahone.art@gmail.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/pages/kahone