It's time for the Monkey CoCo Subscription Box Review!
Monkey CoCo sent us this box for review purposes.
Monkey CoCo Subscription Box Review – November 2018
The Monkey CoCo Subscription Box sends you all the materials you need to make two STEM-based projects that your kids will assemble. You'll also ge a picture book & some knowledge cards with science facts and information.
What you'll get: Two bags of materials for the STEM-based projects, a picture book, some knowledge cards
Ships to: US, Canada, United Kingdom
Price per month: $34.90
Shipping: FREE
Monkey CoCo ships in a colorful green box.
Here is our first look inside.
We got 2 projects with wooden materials and this looks like a box that will help your kids learn about energy.
There is a colorful info booklet that has info about conserving energy.
Here's a quick peek inside the book.
You also get 2 knowledge cards that talk about the Law of Conservation of Energy and different forms of energy.
Here's a quick look at the different themes that Monkey CoCo offers each month.
You also get 2 cute Monkey CoCo stickers!
Project #1: Newton's Cradle
The first project is making Newton's Cradle! According to Wikipedia:
Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates conservation of momentum and energy using a series of swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force through the stationary spheres that pushes the last sphere upward. The last sphere swings back and strikes the still nearly stationary spheres, repeating the effect in the opposite direction. The device is named after 17th-century English scientist Sir Isaac Newton.
Here are the materials for Newton's Cradle.
And here are the instructions…
What's nice about this project is the wood was pre-cut and pre-drilled for you!
It was pretty cool to see actual wood in a subscription box. Most craft subscription boxes have paper or cardboard based projects.
This project didn't require any glue – we just had to fit the wood pieces together and screw in the hooks.
This is the first time my 7-year old son got to screw hooks like this, so he had a lot of fun doing it!
I did have to tie the strings to the hooks, which took quite a while, but I finally managed!
My son couldn't wait to try it out once it was finished!
It did take a bit of trial and error to get the balls lined up just right (it wasn't exactly perfect though!).
My son had a ball playing with his very own DIY Newton's Cradle!
Project #2: Electrothermal Cutting Machine
The second project was an Electrothermal Cutting Machine. After doing some research on what an Electrothermal Cutting Machine is, I found out it is used to cut foam. Hence, the included foam ball!
Here are the materials for the Electrothermal Cutting Machine.
Here are the instructions.
The colored instructions are a nice bonus!
This project required us to glue the wood pieces together.
My husband stepped in to help out with this project.
After letting the glue dry and assembling the electrical components, it was finally ready to go!
We started by trying to cut the foam ball. This wasn't exactly a project I would let my 9-year old do on his own, given the wire was really hot, but it was fun for him to watch.
We weren't sure if this machine would actually cut, but….
… it started to – amazingly!
You can see the line going through the foam ball.
This was actually pretty neat to watch!
Next, my kids wanted to try to cut a drinking straw.
They were amazed to see this machine actually cutting a straw!
And this was the final cut!
In Summary
The Monkey CoCo subscription box was quite a hit with my kids. I loved that it was stem based and had wood projects that they could use or at least watch being used after they were done constructing them. The quality of the materials made it a bit tough to assemble as a child, but that's where my husband and I came in.
What I love about kids activity subscription boxes are the quality time that you get to spend with your kids.
What do you think of the Monkey CoCo subscription box?
