My 10 year old son has shown an interest in coding. He really enjoys math, learning how things work and building. When I heard about Creation Crate, I knew it was something Jackson would thing was cool. Even though this subscription box service is designed for ages 12 and up, we still wanted to check it out.
Creation Crate helps kids learn to build real-world electronics with a curriculum that focuses on introducing new concepts each month, building upon the concepts learned from the previous months. The projects increase in difficulty until at the end of the 24 month curriculum, kids are fluent in the language of technology — cool, right?
The first project is a mood lamp which we were given to check out. The kit comes with everything you need to build the project as well as a password that gives you access to download the software you’ll need to code your project. Unlike other technology subscription boxes, Creation Crate uses raw electronic components, offering real-world skills.
Right away I knew this kit wasn’t something I could just hand off to Jackson to figure out on his own. Secretly, I was glad because it gave us a project that we could do together. Building the motherboard took patience. It had tiny parts that weren’t easy to handle. We worked through the directions together but the smaller parts I mostly had to assemble because he’d get frustrated that his fingers would fumble.
There were parts he was able to do on his own and the whole experience building this together was pretty cool. Next came the coding. We tried to download the program to his laptop without success. We didn’t want to use a tablet because I felt an actual keyboard was essential for typing out the code which came in the included booklet.
Jackson still has a long way to go learning to type and lost interest in this part of the process. I found it fascinating though and loved that the coding included notes that explained it along the way. I’d say my typing skills are pretty good but when I went to upload my code it had mistakes. To my relief, he booklet noted that this is very common. The lines with mistakes were supposed to be highlighted. I’m not sure if I missed something but only the last line of code was highlighted but I went back through the entire code several times, correcting multiple mistakes until I could no longer find any. Still, my code would not upload.
I have an email in to Creation Crate to find out what I am doing wrong — I am sure it is probably something minor that a little tweak or two will fix.
Even though Jackson isn’t quite ready for this, I am definitely keeping Creation Crate in mind for the future. I know it will teach him valuable skills while doing something enjoyable.
Creation Crate subscriptions start at $30 a month, with available 3, 6 or 12 month packages to choose from. You can find out more at www.creationcrate.com
Feeling lucky? Enter to win a Creation Crate box by filling out the form below. The winner MUST be within the Dinnerly delivery region for your prize to be fulfilled so please check your zip code on the Dinnerly website before entering. Also, be sure to check out all of our other giveaways. NOTE: If you don’t leave your address, I won’t have a way to get your prize to you. If you need more guidance filling out this form, you can watch this video on how to enter Rafflecopter giveaways.
This giveaway is open until September 4, 2017 at 12:01 am EST to U.S residents.
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where is the form? I do not know if my computer is just not loading right but I don’t see a form to enter.