Our favorite educational games and subscription boxes for 2020 have to include products from OwlCrate, Little Global Citizens, eat2explore, Guide Dots, MEandMine, and Pickup Sports. These brands are focused on encouraging our children to embrace what makes them unique as well as how to appreciate how others may be different. During this crazy time, these products are a real blessing to families.
Our Favorite Educational Games and Subscription Boxes for 2020
About OwlCrate
In November 2014, Korrina and Robert set out to create a project that would bring readers around the world together. After a few months of planning and researching, the ‘Magical Monthly Reads’ concept was born and OwlCrate officially launched in February 2015 with incredible support from the Young-Adult book community. We mailed out our first box in March, and it’s been an amazing ride ever since.
About OwlCrate Jr. Subscription Box
Kick start the love of reading with a monthly subscription box from OwlCrate Jr. These boxes are geared for children ages 8-12. Each box is based on a theme. Inside each box you will find 4-6 goodies. A hardcover book, at least one usable item or activity to encourage creativity, imagination and exploration, plus an exclusive letter from the author and a collectible monthly sticker. Boxes are available as a single purchase or as a subscription for three or six months.
Make sure to follow OwlCrate on social media:
About Little Global Citizens
Fostering open-mindedness, compassion & global awareness in children has never been more important than it is today. As parents & caregivers, we can do this by helping our children develop an understanding of the world and love for the people in it. In 2011, we backpacked around the world for 13 months. In order to to meet people & experience their lives, we bypassed the usual traveler routes and went far off the beaten path; living with a secluded tribe in Laos, delving deep into the jungles of Borneo and trekking into remote regions of Burma.
What we learned was that people around the world are kind and hospitable and outside of surface differences. We are all more similar than we are different. Now as parents ourselves, we want to instill in our own kids a love for travel, adventure, and most importantly, a respect for all people. Little Global Citizens is the gift of experiencing the world, to our own children & to yours.
Little Global Citizens Subscription Box
Before you can respect others, you have to understand their perspective. That’s what the Little Global Citizens subscription box offers. Each box will bring a new country alive for your children. Help your children develop a genuine respect for others and feel connected to people whose lifestyle, culture, language, food or family structure may be different from their own. The Little Global Citizens is a subscription service with boxes available as a single box or every other month. Included in the box are educational items from the country of the month. These items include crafts, screen-free activities (games and puzzles), language skills sets, recipes, and a story book.
Little Global Citizens offers something that goes beyond a book. It’s a fun way to engage children’s senses in a different way to learn about other people.
Make sure to follow Little Global Citizens on social media:
About eat2explore
Mealtime should be an experience and cooking is a life-skill everyone should have! Since home economics is no longer part of the curriculum at school, hands-on cooking and culture explorations is even more important in today’s world. Rowena started eat2explore for her children and other busy families like hers. Two years ago, during a family cooking class, she discovered that although her kids love to travel and try different cuisines, they couldn’t even chop an onion!
She grew up cooking with her family back in Malaysia and those are some of her fondest memories. However, being a working mom juggling her kids’ busy schedules and still making sure dinner is on the table after work, she forgot the joy of taking a break and having fun cooking together as a family. She realized that there must be many more out there just like her – people who are missing this opportunity to create lasting memories at home.
eat2explore Subscription Box
Enjoy foods from around the globe with this monthly subscription box from eat2explore. Your children will be exposed to a variety of foods from the country or region of the month. It is a great way to instill an understanding and appreciation that people have similarities and differences while learning life skills in the kitchen. eat2explore’s subscription box service brings the food of different countries (18 countries/regions like Italy, Mexico, Greece, etc.) straight to your kitchen table. Track your “travels” with stickers on the passport and with a pin displaying the country or region flag.
Boxes may be purchased as a single box or as a monthly subscription. Each box will include three easy to follow recipes, specialty spices and sauces, and a shopping list to purchase needed proteins and vegetables. Our box was all about the delicious foods from Greece.
Make sure to follow eat2explore on social media:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
About Guide Dots
From team sports to after-school lessons, it seems like every day is full of activities. It’s not easy balancing your child’s interests with your family’s busy schedule. That’s why Guide Dots allows your child the freedom to explore art in the comfort of their own home, on their own time, at their own pace. Using strategically placed dots and online video instruction, Guide Dots gives your child the map to unlock their creative ability.
Guide Dots Subscriptions
In your first subscription box from Guide Dots, you will receive the Starter Kit that includes a large variety of full size teacher tested art supplies. These are the tools that your child will need to really lean into their love of drawing.
Guide Dots is an Art Curriculum designed to encourage and teach children to love drawing. Subscriptions are available in 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month plans. Each box is based on a theme and includes the needed material as well as online instruction for your child.
Make sure to follow Guide Dots on social media:
About MEandMine
The creation of MEandMine began with Elinor and a powerhouse of parents in Silicon Valley. After a career in healthcare, Elinor observed firsthand the growing diagnosable mental health problems in young kids. “Our children are growing up in a world where performance is king. Over-stimulus is starting at a younger age, oftentimes with overwhelming performance-based expectations.”
The idea behind MEandMine was crystalized after a conversation with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard. From as early as 3 years old, the foundation of a child’s social emotional development is built into the architecture of their brain. Social and emotional development is proven highly correlated to the development of problem solving skills.
MEandMine was built out of a belief in the importance of developing resilience. As parents, the best gift we can give to our little ones is to empower them to have fun with challenges. Make friends with uncertainties. And discover the magic hidden inside them.
MEandMine Products
MEandMine is a new play experience that makes a child’s journey of self-discovery the most fun, mind-blowing and inspiring hands-on adventure. The line of exciting and fun educational toy kits help kids discover all the marvelous ways their body and emotions work to help them grow. This helps them face the wild road of life ahead with excitement, confidence, creativity and resilience. The award-winning products are designed by educators, pediatricians, and psychologists. They inspire kids to find out what they’re made of with scientifically proven methods.
All of the products from MEandMine fall into one of three categories. Body, Emotion, and Home School Solution.
Under the Body products, you can unlock all the messy, mysterious, and marvelous inner workings that make you…YOU! Learn all about germs in the Fishing Out Germs game. This game teaches the importance of staying healthy through good hygiene and self care.
In the Emotion and Home School Solution areas you will find other games that also teach children about how they are made up and what makes them unique. None of our children are exactly the same, and that is something to be embraced. All of the products of MEandMine encourage children to be the best that they can be!
Make sure to follow MEandMine on social media:
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
About Pickup Sports
As a sports medicine physician, our Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Neeru Jayanthi has treated and researched young athletes and their training patterns for more than 15 years.
The Pickup Sports team surveyed more than 500 parents and found many positive associations of sports activities in young children. However, each child may have a different goal, and each family may want something different in the long-term from sports. There are some whom want to develop elite level skills and develop a competitive athlete. There are many whom want less competitive environments that still create opportunities for fun physical activity, friendships, confidence, and character-building. Still other families whom have little relationship with sports and may feel disengaged, disinterested or discouraged. This last group may still want the best for their child, and have some longer term goals of physical activity that can be accomplished through some level of sport participation.
Flag Football Kit + Live Virtual Sports Skills Classes
The flag football kit is a great way to introduce the sport to younger children. With a focus on motor skills and ball control development, without the physical contact. Each kit includes the equipment needed to start playing right away. Also included is a fun football activity book and other surprises to help them learn about football. Game cards and online access to a live virtual youth coach.
Other Pickup Sports Starter Kits are available for Tennis, Baseball & Softball, Soccer, Volleyball, and Basketball. And through the Pickup Sports Foundation everyone can join in their free online classes and clinics! They are a nonprofit with the mission to provide free, world-class sports and physical literacy education for all kids. Classes with help you keep your little ones active while the schools are closed. You can learn how to be your child’s best coach by teaching age appropriate physical skills using the class information.
Make sure to follow Pickup Sports on social media:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
My Thoughts on Our Favorite Educational Games and Subscription Boxes for 2020
As crazy as things are right now, discovering brands that sole purpose is to uplift and encourage creativity in our children is refreshing.
All of these products challenge your children to use their “thinking caps” and to learn about what makes them unique. And with all the turmoil in the world, I know our television is off more than it is on. After having to explain topics that I would have preferred my little ones not having to understand, we are looking for other ways to stay active.
And for those that are schooling remotely or taking the home schooling path, having educational materials available that can be used by a non teacher aka parent like us – is such a blessing. If you are looking for materials to teach with or simply engage your children in a healthy way, make sure to visit these brands and check out all the wonderful products they carry. You will see why we have them listed as our favorite educational games and subscription boxes for 2020. Order yours today!
We’ve added OwlCrate, Little Global Citizens, eat2explore, Guide Dots, and Pickup Sports to our Back to School Guide 2020 #Back2School20
Check it out here!
