“Crack the Code”
With all unboxings my intention is to help you determine if the box is worth your money. I go through each product included in the box first and assign a rating at the end. Each item is rated out of 3: usefulness, quality, and do I personally enjoy it? Often I will give bonus points for extra items/ exceptional covers/ exceptional pins … etc.
April’s OwlCrate Jr., “Crack The Code”, was all about codes, puzzles and riddles … so let’s just “crack” right into it! (sorry, couldn’t resist …)
Kanoodle game: This is a really fun puzzle game that challenges spacial awareness and critical thinking … all packaged nicely in a travel-friendly case. The puzzle guide ranges in difficulty from beginner to master-level so even smaller kids can participate.
Usborne Books 100 Logic Puzzles: These puzzles aren’t fooling around and are quite challenging! I mean really challenging! Unfortunately they are too difficult for my 8 year old and she got quite frustrated, but I am sure they will hit the mark with older kids.
Alex Clauss designed ruled notebook: Notebooks are always a hit in this house and of course she was immediately writing secret messages in this one! (Note the pen in the picture wasn’t included in the box but shown for sizing)
Make your own cipher wheel: I like that OwlCrate Jr. is always trying to include some STEAM element to their boxes. The set up for this decoder was fast and we had fun making secret messages to each other and decoding them.
Wrinkle in time bookmark: This bookmark was designed by Hey Atlas Creative and features a quote from A Wrinkle in Time.
All the paper goodies included in the box – does anyone else get ridiculously excited over the Junior product card designs? Michelle Gray does a fabulous job!
Finally …
The book!
The book pick this month was Greystone Secrets: The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix and came with a signed book plate and author letter.
Overall Rating: A
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Kanoodle Game: 3/3 Fun, functional, and challenging – and I appreciate that they included a higher cost item (this retails for $15 Cdn on Amazon).
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Usborne 100 Logic Puzzles: 2/3 Usborne makes great books but their puzzle books are super challenging and unfortunately this particular book was just too difficult for our girl right now. Definitely geared towards older kids.
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Cipher Wheel Craft: 2/3 I think this was a really creative way to put a STEAM item in the crate and the cardstock they used is high quality … but it is slightly hard to get too excited over paper … ?
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Notebook: 3/3 Notebooks are always appreciated and this one has a cool artist-designed original print on sturdy paper. How can you miss?
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Wrinkle in Time bookmark: 3/3 I love bookmarks. We love bookmarks. You probably do too if you’ve read this far … and getting a bookmark designed by the cool cat behind Hey Atlas Creative? Just win-win-win.
While it was a bit hard to see the value in the paper item this month, being that this box comes in around $50 Cdn. That said, we had fun using the decoder making coded messages to each other and my daughter is still using it! The puzzle/code book was a bit too hard, but my girl is on the younger side of the targeted age market for OwlCrate Jr., so I can’t fault them for including that! In all I’d say this is another solid box from OwlCrate Jr. They always put a ton of heart, care and attention into each box and I always feel I’m getting my money’s worth.
Note on Rating: I rate each item out of 3 possible points: 1 for quality, 1 for usefulness, and 1 for if I personally liked the item/fandom. I then assign an overall letter rating for the whole box.
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