A special thanks to Ivy Kids  for providing the Miss Frugal Mommy blog with products for free in exchange for an honest review!

About Ivy Kids: A Message From Founder Tassea

” I am a certified early childhood teacher and mother of two. After my second child was born, I became a stay-at-home mom. Trying to entertain two young children at home proved to be more difficult than I had expected. I had a tight budget and could not afford those great early childhood classes. I also became frustrated with the lack of developmentally appropriate educational games available for young children. As a result, I began creating my own projects and activities to keep my children engaged and cognitively stimulated. I wanted the time I spent with my children to be meaningful and not just trying to get the day to go by. I noticed that when the activities were based around a favorite book and characters, my children were more invested. I worked hard to create activities that would encourage problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking. I started making kits for family members and friends that were also staying at home with their kids. I always included one personalized item or activity in the kit for the child, which was a big hit. I received so much positive feedback about the creativity, entertainment, and educational value of the activities that I thought I might try starting a business and sharing the kits with other parents. I have now recruited some other teachers (turned stay-at-home moms) for their expertise. We believe Ivy Kits are a great resource for parents and caregivers looking for creative ways to spend quality time with their children while also helping them build important foundational skills.”

What To Expect In Your Ivy Kit

• Fun and engaging educational activities are developed by certified early childhood teachers.
• A monthly book is selected based upon its success as a learning tool in the classroom.
• Unique games and projects are based upon the monthly story and characters.
• Each kit is packed with games, materials, and projects that can be played for years to come.
• Ivy Kit activities can be modified based on your child’s age and development.
• We design each kit to build early foundational skills in math, science, and literacy.
• Everything that you need to play is included in the kit.
• Games can be played with more than one child.
• Our materials and activities are similar to those found in high quality early education settings.
• Each activity contains a detailed instructional guide with questions to scaffold learning.
• Our activities meet the standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
• All our activities have been tested and enjoyed by children.

My Review

If you didn’t see our review last month for the Ivy Kids July box, I highly recommend you go check it out, as you will be amazed by how packed that one was as well! I have done my fare share of reviews for subscription boxes and I have to say that the Ivy Kids boxes include an impressive amount of items at a very affordable price. This month we had the pleasure of learning about colors and my three year old son was extremely intrigued with each and every activity. My favorite thing about these kits and just how organized everything is, I literally do not have to prepare a single thing. Each activity comes with a very detailed set of instructions, ideas and discussion points. All of the supplies you need for the crafts are included and the materials are prepared for you! There is no need to get supplies out of your crafting closet or cut things out for the kids, each activity is literally ready for you to start right away!

Each month you will receive a very special book that conincides with the theme of the box and all of the activities/games. The game in the image above and below was a great way for my son to practice saying his colors out loud as he matched them accordingly.

 The next activity is hands down my favorite one included in this months box and absolutely genius! This particular activity is what officially sparked my son’s interest in learning about mixing colors, which is all he has been talking about for two weeks. The All About Colors book, colored paddles and sheets to match the colors were all fantastic ways to practice learning his colors.

The colored paddles have been so much fun for my son and he loves showing everyone in the house the different colors he can create by putting two paddles together. This is a fantastic mess free way to provide a way to show your child what colors can be created when you mix them together.

Both kids had the pleasure of recreating the mice from the book with model clay. I loved observing them as they did this, each expressing their individual creativity and personal touches. Model clay is one of my children’s most favorite craft activities and I was so excited to see it included in this months box!

The sun catcher activity was another fantastic art project that the kids really enjoyed doing. All of the tissue paper came precut, which meant the kids could get started right away and didn’t have to wait for me to prepare any of the art supplies. I am very favorable of hands on crafts that encourage the children to express their creativity and preferences. These sun catchers came out beautiful and they now hang in the windows for all to enjoy!

What I expecailly love about Ivy Kids is that not only does each box contain a book, but there are also a collection of pieces for your child to tell the story with. Whether they decide to take out the pieces as you read the book, or simply tell you the story on their own while using the pieces as a guide, it’s always a great way to spark their imagination. I am all about visuals and this is right up my ally, something I look forward to in each box.

In addition to all of the wonderful color activities, there was also one that introduced patterns. I was so surprised how quickly my three year old son picked up on this activity and love that he is enjoying making patters.

 The final craft/activity in the box consisted of getting messy and showing your child what happens when you mix paint together. Using the three primary colors, we used the mouse cards to represent the two colors to mix and then the color you get as a result. My son completed all of the cards and now carries them around the house, showing everyone what colors you can get when mixing them together. He has really shows a strong interest in mixing colors and is so proud of himself when he is able to tell us all about it. There was also a bundle of plastic bags where you were asked to squirt two colors of paint into and then have your child mix them together with their fingers. My son’s face and reaction when he mixed the colors and started to see the new color form was absolutely priceless! Once again, another fantastic mess free craft that encourages hands on learning, simply amazing!

Once again I am just blown away by yet another spectacular Ivy Kids box and quite impressed with the amount of stuff included. Many of these activities can be saved, so we placed them back in the bags to use again another day. My son takes them out almost every day to practice his colors, something that he does all on his own without me asking me. It’s always great when you discover a learning resource that your child seeks out and you don’t have to spend half the time encouraging them to stay focused. This is one of my most favorite subscription boxes of all time and I highly recommend them!

***COUPON ALERT***

Get 20% off your first Kit!
Sign up for any recurring subscription and use the coupon code IVYSUMMER20 to receive 20% off your first kit.