“The start of something very special” | A customer’s toucanBox experience
By Toni Stevens, toucanBox customer
My 6-year-old son has been making toucanBox projects for just over two years now.
I remember his first ever box being a felt crown, which he had to cut out and stick coloured jewels onto, alongside cardboard finger puppets of royal characters to play with.
He was just coming up to 4 years old and wouldn’t sit still for five mins. I remember thinking to myself, ’there is no way he’s going to sit long enough to do this, but let’s give it a go’.
We sat at the table and I pulled the instruction leaflet from the box and showed him the list of items he would need, knowing full well he wasn’t really listening to me. I laid the materials all on the table and grabbed the children’s scissors from the drawer. I started to follow the steps, pointing out to him what he needed to do.
The cutting was an issue for my son as he wasn’t very good at holding or using scissors. I had to take over after he lost his temper when he couldn’t do it.
After it was all cut out and the ribbon attached he sat calmly and stuck the jewels on where he wanted them. At first he had trouble peeling the backs off of the jewels, but after a little help he managed it just fine. That crown was the start of something very special for not only my son but for me, too.
Here we are at the age of 6 and he gets so excited when he finds his toucanBox on the mat after school. He rushes to the table, opens the box, and I can see his eyes light up with excitement to see what he has to do.
He will now sit calmly for up to an hour to do these crafts. He has learnt how to follow the instructions step-by-step, even picking up on things I may have missed. His scissor usage is now excellent.
My son loves the monthly magazine and will sit down going through it and trying out the experiments. Two of his favourites have been dropping eggs from the top floor window and seeing ways to protect them from smashing, and freezing dinosaurs in ice and seeing the best way to free them. These two experiments have now been carried out a number of times.
I have to say I recommend toucanBox wholeheartedly. toucanBox has come with us on holidays as a rainy day activity. I keep one or two aside when my son is on school holidays and has nothing to do. It allows us to spend some quality time together, just the two of us. And see how we can tweak the project to fit around his beloved dinosaurs.
toucanBox has given my son confidence, patience, fine motor skills and much more.
(Toni Stevens is a toucanBox customer and received a 3-month subscription for writing this blog post. If you’d like to write your own personal experience with toucanBox, join us over at toucanBox Club private Facebook group to find out more!)
