Lollibox: Moon & Stars Review + Coupon Code

I love bringing my kids on excursions and for outdoor play but the recent wet weather has made this rather difficult. Plans have been scrapped, sometimes at the last minute, and I would be scratching my head and falling over myself to think up some activity that would keep my house-bound restless kids busy (and isn't, erm, TV).

Fortunately for me, when we last found ourselves stuck indoors earlier in the week, I had the help of Lollibox.

The concept of Lollibox is simple, but clever. With the aim of helping busy parents create learning activities for their kids that are fun at the same time, each Lollibox is built around a theme and includes two different activity kits, with all the materials required to carry out the activities successfully. There are four components to each Lollibox:

1. CREATE -- This is an activity kit with a "hands-on project to develop kids’ creativity and expression".

2. DISCOVER -- This is an activity kit with a "theme-based project to enrich kids’ minds, with all the materials necessary to involve kids’ observation, experiment and active play".

3. ENRICH --This is a card with further suggested activities related to the theme

4. AWARD -- This is a cute little button badge to reward the child with after he completes all the activities.

We were offered two boxes with different themes and decided to open one at random. It turned out to be the Moon & Stars Box. This was a good one for Noey, given his interest in Space. He definitely was excited to get going.

We started with the "DISCOVER" activity first, which was to decorate your own telescope and use it to have a closer look at the moon and stars. The child is then to record his observations for a week in the Moon & Stars Journal provided. I thought it was helpful that the instruction sheet also provided information on the phases of the moon. There were also further questions that a parent could use to explore the topic further with the child.

Decorating was easy enough. We were supplied with the telescope, a sheet of metallic paper, and a sheet of stickers. While Noey got busy decorating the telescope, Nomi thought it was a better idea to decorate herself. 

We were done with this pretty quickly. Since it was the middle of the afternoon, we didn't have a chance to use it to do any moon gazing though Noey did have a bit of fun squinting at stuff. Like my face. (I didn't find that so fun!)

We moved on the the CREATE activity, which was to make a papier mâché moon nightlight. I thought this was a cute idea. Again, there were detailed instructions to follow but we took a bit more of a free hand with this because if there is something I (now) know how to do, it is to papier mâché a balloon!

"This is exactly like making a piñata!" exclaimed Noey. And so it was.

We mixed the glue paste, blew up the balloon, and every got involved in ripping up the paper. Even Nomi could help.

Then I let Noey have free rein over the project, though I was on-hand to help. I seldom let him do this with my precious piñatas so he relished it. It was a messy affair! I usually do my papier mâché in the balcony but it was raining so we had to do it indoors and I forgot to lay down the newspaper. Nothing that a quick clean-up after resolve.

We were instructed to put two layers on but he definitely put a bit too much on! Still, I could tell there was a real sense of accomplishment on his part when he was done.

It was a wet day, so we left the balloon to dry overnight before popping it the next day. Noey did indeed put too many layers on, but it was easily rectified by peeling off some of the extra paper. We popped the dome over the electric candle that was provided, and this was the result.

Very pretty, don't you think? The kids really liked it and left it on for days.

One suggestion that I have if you are going to make this, derived from my piñata making experience, is not to make a thick glue paste as stated in the instructions. I have found that doing so increases the chance that the paper would stick to the balloon and crumple when you deflate it. Just a thin paste will do to hold the paper together, and you will find that the balloon deflates nicely when you pop it. 

We also tried one of the extra activities in the ENRICH component. I looked through it and opted for the enticingly-titled "5-Minute Activity". This was a simple activity of creating and projecting your own constellations on the wall. All you need is a disposable cup, aluminium foil, a rubber band, toothpick and flashlight. I cut out the base of the cup and secured the aluminium foil to the larger opening before handing it over the the kids to poke out their own star patterns using toothpicks.

Then we popped in a flashlight at the bottom and viewed our constellations on the wall! Another good activity would be to teach the kids actual constellations by mapping these out to flash on the wall too.

We have tried using our telescope to observe the moon and stars, but probably because the weather has been rather wet, we have not managed to see much. We are also entering into the new moon phase of the moon cycle so we're probably going to have to wait a bit before we can kick off some moon gazing.

Altogether, we enjoyed the activities in our Moon & Stars Lollibox very much. I thought the activities were manageable for a pre-schooler, and the whole concept of pre-packaged activities with materials was very convenient for parents who just need an activity for rainy days, or who just have no time to plan and buy materials for learning activities. Lollibox even has a subscription service (3 months or 6 months) where you can receive a new Lollibox every month at reduced rates.

A special discount for all readers of this blog: Lollibox is offering all readers $5 off all purchases all Lollibox purchases and subscriptions with the coupon code MYSMALLTHINGS. This coupon code is valid till 14 Dec 2012 so this is as good a time as ever to grab one of their boxes to try them out for yourself.

Also, stay tuned for my review of the Blow Wind Blow Lollibox. 

 

* I received a complimentary Moon & Stars Lollibox for the purposes of this review. All opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.