If there are any dads out there reading this, here is a kit with you in mind. 🙂 A Minnesota-based company called Cooper and Kid created the Cooper Kit – an instant “Dad-is-Awesome” box. This subscription based kit arrives quarterly and is plum full of activities for dads to work on together with their kids.
Cooper and Kid was founded by Nichole Smaglick. Nichole spent many years living and studying nomadic warrior cultures of the Barabaig on the plains of Africa. This gave her insight into the deeper levels of male development and socio-economic evolution. There was a strong cultural tradition of communal initiation of boys to men there. This inspired her to create the Cooper Kit – a critical rite of passage into fatherhood for modern-day, engaged dads.
Cooper Kits work well with sons and daughters. The activities included highlight different discoveries like flight, the ocean, music, space, magic tricks and more. Plus, dads get access to Catch, an e-Zine that provides him a unique community and outlet focused on the challenges he faces every day, and a hip place for fathers to meet like-minded guys and share opinions.
The Cooper Kit I received showcased battle – a game of strength and wits. It featured two characters, “Piggy” and “Wolfy” who represented the Oinker and Howler clans who had clashed and fought for a very long time.
Once the box was opened, an activity guide and letter explaining the story of the Cooper Kit was on top with many colorful items below.
How often is it that you see a box with instructions and materials for building your own battering ram?
A copy of The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig was included too for a bedtime story. There is a section in the activity guide using this book for further discussion on healthy was to respond when others discriminate.
Now to represent your clan, you need a flag. To decorate your own coat of arms, an assortment of markers are provided. I dug out some feathers and stick-on gems for my girls to add to their flags.
There was a plain bag included in the kit. My kids loved this – wooden blocks to build, destroy, and re-create their castle.
This was a popper piggie included in the kit. Apply a quick squeeze to the piggie and he would shoot rubber balls out of his mouth. The balls could be aimed at targets, like the creations made from the included wooden blocks.
This was unique – a template was drawn out on the box that the kit was shipped in to make the body of the battering ram.
There was a wooden dowel and then two different cardboard head cut-out for the swinging arm. Here is the wolf and there was also one for the pig. Behind the cardboard head was a wood ball. My husband had to tweak it a bit and take a shim made from a small piece of cardboard scrap. He pushed it in the pre-made hole on the wooden ball to make it stay on the wooden dowel securely.
My girls decorated a crest to be placed on each side of the battering ram. There was an included rope to swing the arm and project it against objects to knock them down.
The Cooper Kit provided hours of fun for my kids and husband with the items included in the box. There are more activities in the activity guide for us yet to tackle, like a video online for us to watch buildings come down, a game with a construction die and demolition die that were in the kit plus some of the items previously mentioned. There are recipes to try in the kitchen too. When you have an account at CooperAndKid.com, you can access digital resources that provide ideas beyond the box and things for just dad to do too.
The Cooper Kit is recommended for dads with children ages 5-9. A box is shipped every three months for a price of $65 plus shipping that is billed quarterly and can be cancelled at any time. There is a price knock down to $59 plus free shipping per quarterly kit prices when you subscribe and pay $236 per year for the four kits.
To learn more about the Cooper Kit, please visit http://cooperandkid.com/.
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Disclosure: I received a Cooper Kit for this review. No other compensation was received. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
