Green Kid Crafts Review

Green Kid Crafts Review | An Eco-Friendly STEAM Subscription Box

With all the options out there for monthly educational subscriptions for kids, it can be a challenge to know where to look. Green Kid Crafts was invented by a scientist mom looking to reduce the environmental impact while providing high-quality STEAM subscription boxes.

Green Kid Crafts kindly provided a Crafts Jr. subscription box for 2-4-year-olds for us to review. My 3-year-old and I completed the crafts together, and had a great time along the way! We reviewed the Weather Science box, which includes materials to create a Weather Station, Cloud Finder, and Wind Sock, plus a bonus weather vane.

The Green Kids Crafts subscription box was fun, informative, and we ended our activity with products that my daughter loves using.

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Green Kid Crafts Review

What’s in the Box?

The Green Kid Weather Science box includes all of the materials needed to complete three green kid crafts: a weather station, a wind sock, and a cloud finder; plus bonus instructions and materials to build a weather vane and instructions for completing a rainbow craft project. There is some introductory information about whether and a series of fun and funny quotes about the weather. My favorite is from Mark Twain: “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” 

In addition to the provided materials, you’ll need scissors and could supplement the crayon selection with additional colors of your own if desired. 

Green Kid Crafts Jr. Box contents
Green Kid Crafts Jr. Box contents. Photo by Allison Ebbets

Design

Weather Station

The weather station craft includes all of the materials you need to create a place for you and your child to document each day’s weather conditions. You’ll get a thermometer with an arrow to point to temperature, a dial-like spectrum of cloudy/raining to sunny conditions with an arrow to indicate the current mood of the sky, a bar with a circle to highlight the wind conditions, and a more free-form “today is” set of options that can be used to summarize the specifics of today’s weather.

Each of the pieces attaches to a felt background with Velcro dots, and a pipe-cleaner is included for hanging. The ‘instruments’ are made of white paper so your child can color them in to add personal flair. I like the design, the look of the pieces, and the Velcro idea is clever and effective, though some of the larger pieces occasionally fall off. I do think it would be helpful to have a stiffer backing for the felt (paper board would likely be enough), as the weight of the paper weather station pieces causes the felt to buckle a bit. Overall, the simple and pleasing design and the movability of the pieces are really great. 

Assembling our green kid crafts weather station
Assembling our green kid crafts weather station. Photo by Allison Ebbets

Wind Sock

The wind sock craft includes a piece of cloth that your child can decorate with the included crayons, or your own art materials if you prefer, ribbons to act as streamers, a foam strip to make a sturdy open cylinder, a pipe cleaner to act as a handle, and some amazing glue dots that work really well.

I love that your child has an opportunity to decorate the wind sock on their own. This craft was quick, simple, and ended with a high-quality wind sock. It’s sturdy enough to stand up to wind, and the pipe cleaner hook makes it easy to attach it securely outside (note: I made holes for the pipe cleaner with a whole-puncher, but scissors or a knife would work just as well). In our house, it keeps migrating indoors where it’s being used as a ribbon twirly toy, which is fun and informative too.

Gluing the ribbon streamers to our wind sock
Gluing the ribbon streamers to our wind sock. Photo by Allison Ebbets

Cloud Finder

The cloud finder activity includes a picture frame cutout, a large tongue depressor stick to act as a handle, and the back page of your booklet includes photos of clouds with their official name included; you’ll need your own scissors to cut them out. After pasting the cloud photos around the frame, you can take it outside, hold it by the handle, and decide what types of clouds you have in your sky.

Cutting and gluing the cloud photos to the frame is fun and achievable for young children. I really love that the end product is useful and educational, and the materials are of good quality that will last a long time.

Preparing to cut out cloud photos
Preparing to cut out cloud photos. Photo by Allison Ebbets

Features

Instructional Booklet

The instructional booklet includes a nice short overview of weather, instructions for the 3 included crafts plus some additional ideas with instructions, a graphic story, and a maze activity. I am a huge fan of the ‘green’ aspects of this kit. I’m often overwhelmed by the amount of plastic and packaging that comes with kid stuff. Green Kid has done a nice job minimizing packaging, using materials for more than one purpose, and including reusable plastic where possible. 

Reusable and recyclable packaging, with multiple crafts packaged together
Reusable and recyclable packaging, with multiple crafts packaged together. Photo by Allison Ebbets.

The instructions are generally clear and include excellent photos that illustrate the steps and the end product. In a few instances, I was a bit confused by the instructions, but the photos helped clear up my questions and we were able to successfully complete each element without difficulty.

I love that the weather station and wind sock instructional photos use crafts that were clearly decorated by a child. I think it’s really important that children feel like they can achieve the end result as pictured in order to encourage them to participate. It was a thoughtful and well-executed instructional element.

One thing I would love to see included is more background information about each of the crafts. We don’t get a description of how and why weather stations or wind socks are used, and while the cloud formations are named, there is not any additional information to support the photos. I would have loved a little more information for each craft explaining its purpose, its relationship to weather observations or measurements, and a sentence or two about each type of cloud formation. 

Weather Station

The weather station includes all of the primary observations we can make without instruments, and I like how approachable it is for a little one. We hung our station up near the front door and my daughter frequently adjusts the dials or announces current weather conditions.

Finished weather station
Finished weather station. Photo by Allison Ebbets

Wind Sock

The wind sock is such a simple and pleasing tool. I think it was an excellent project for a craft box aimed at children 2-4. Putting it together required adult support but my 3-year-old was able to do a lot of it. She enjoyed using the glue dots, placing the ribbons, and hanging them up outside. Now she likes making her own “wind” by whipping it around the house.

Finished wind sock hanging outside (briefly)
Finished wind sock hanging outside (briefly). Photo by Allison Ebbets

Cloud Finder

The cloud finder is a deceptively simple but highly effective craft that has some long-lasting impact. It’s nice how well each of these crafts mixes the immediate satisfaction of completing a craft in the moment, with a long-term result that can be used to encourage curiosity and learning. The cloud finder is something I expect we’ll use for a long time, as we learn and observe all of the permutations we find in our sky.

Completed cloud finder, no clouds here!
Completed cloud finder, no clouds here! Photo by Allison Ebbets

Verdict

Overall, I think this is a great product! It’s fun and engaging for kids and parents, there is a ton of learning potential both while creating the crafts and when using them in the future. The included materials are good quality and could be easily enhanced by some simple at-home additions (for example, I may attach our weather station to a stiffer piece of paper).

While I mentioned above that some additional educational material would be welcome, the crafts offer a lot of opportunities for both teaching your child and learning along with them. The projects definitely encourage interaction and curiosity, which are really important components of toddler learning and education. If you are looking for a great educational kit and are committed to reducing waste and supporting the environment, this is an excellent option.

Make it a GREEN Summer!

Frequently Asked Questions

What products does Green Kid Crafts offer?

Green Kid Crafts offers a wide range of green craft boxes for kids that include STEAM-based activities. This means that crafts and activities are educational focusing on subjects like science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. A lot of crafts and activities cover more than one of these subject areas, making for a nice combination of integrated learning objectives. Boxes are available for a wide range of ages 2-4, 5-10, and 10+ and can be ordered individually or as a monthly subscription plan.

What makes these kits ‘green’?

Green Kid Crafts subscription boxes use an earth-friendly approach to packaging and materials. Compared with other kits, they minimize plastic packaging by combining multiple crafts into a single package where appropriate, using recyclable material, and giving materials more than one purpose. As an example, in the kit reviewed here, there are instructions for converting the box it arrives in into a weather vane using additional materials you likely already have such as construction paper, scissors, and a pencil. In addition, one tree is planted for each order, so your purchase supports global reforestation efforts while educating your child.