Get Qurious Maker Box Review and GIVEAWAY!!

* I received a free Maker Box  from Get Qurious in exchange for writing a review on my blog. All opinions expressed here are 100% mine.

A while back I got an email from the team over at Get Qurious.  They were asking if I’d like to review a Maker Box. I was all ready to write back and say no thank you (which is honestly what I say to 99 percent of emails about reviews and sponsored posts- I don’t want to be that blogger) but I changed my mind. As summer winds down my girls are slowly

losing

their

minds.

The chorus of SHE TOUCHED ME and MOMMMYYYYY is louder than ever and all of my usual ideas aren’t working any more. As soon as I really researched the Maker Box i saw what a great idea it is.

1. It’s a STEM activity
2. It’s part virtual, part physical/actual pieces
3. It’s really, truly COOL. I knew Cate and Lucy would love it. Especially since they would have to borrow H’s iPad mini to use it.

My review is below…make sure to hold on all the way to the end for a G I V E A W A Y!!

So here’s the deal. This activity is part (free) app, part pieces that come in the Maker Box.

What the heck is this all about you say? I took the official blurb from the website b/c I thought that was the clearest and easiest way for me to tell you.

GET QURIOUS sparks children’s curiosity, imagination, and discovery as they create stories, assemble puzzles, role-play, or engage in other age-appropriate games and activities that encourage STREAM learning – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, READING, ENGINEERING, ART, AND MATH.

Each GET QURIOUS Augmented Reality app magically brings the physical activities to life! Children can play with the activities on their own, but totally new animations pop up when they scan them with their mobile device. They can read along with the animated stories, put on a mask and record their own version of the story, or create many different, colorful 3D animations of their finished puzzle.

1. Open the box
2. Download the app
3. Play

Y’all. It really was that easy. As you will see below, this app is best for kiddos under 8, although HONESTLY I think Harper and Sadie would have happily played along.

Here’s what the box looks like when it comes in the mail:

Out of the four activities, the girls decided to start with the story cards. The app tells you to locate a certain numbered card (based on a photo it shows you), scan the card, and follow along with the story. I liked that this helped them work on their ordinal counting and matching skills.

They were SO into it, although there was a bit of arguing on whose turn it was. ALWAYS. WHYYYYY

For the second activity, they each put on a mask (SO MUCH GIGGLING), scanned the mask in a selfie, and recorded spoken versions of the story. Big hit. HUGE.

Next (note the masks are still on HAHA) they did the storybook with reusable stickers. My personal favorite.

This was so so cool. They scanned a page in the book and read it together. Each page has a spot for a sticker and a blank in the story. Several stickers/nouns fit each blank. So they scanned and read the page, added a sticker of choice(kind of like mad libs) and re-scanned the page with the sticker. The app then re-read the page using the sticker the girls chose.

BEING A KID RIGHT NOW IS SO FREAKING COOL.

For the last game (Yes. MASKS ARE STILL ON, bless it) they solved a puzzle and then scanned it into the app, where it showed the puzzle to them in 3D. Again, so freaking cool.

So that’s it! We loved it, y’all. They are playing over and over (or when Harper will let them use her iPad- I guess I could let them use my phone too!). I get really nervous when I’m asked to review products b/c I worry I’ll hate it and then it’s just awkward. Not to worry- I would honestly buy this in a heartbeat. It would make an excellent gift.

Now the fun part…. T HE    G I V E A W A Y!

If you’d like to win a Maker Box ($19.99 value) leave a comment here OR on my Instagram post. If you comment both places you get TWO entries. I’ll announce a winner next Friday. GOOD LUCK!

Hope you enjoyed this post…have a beautiful weekend!

oxo

S