The 4 Best Kids Craft Subscription Boxes for 2025

Green Kids Crafts, our former runner-up craft subscription box for kids ages 5 to 8, lives up to its “hands-on STEAM” promise. It has a small-business, made-with-love feel that I enjoyed as a parent. Green Kids Crafts offers two subscription options: the Junior Box, aimed at ages 3 to 5, and the Discovery Box, for ages 5 to 10-plus. Both provide hands-on, age-appropriate activities. Compared with our picks from KiwiCo and CrunchLabs, however, this box had some activities that were less creative and of lower quality, though our testers still enjoyed them.

MEL Science is another STEM craft kit option. We struggled to get any representatives to respond via phone or email to answer preliminary questions. We ordered a project via the website and had a lot of fun building a Hydraulic Lift. The visual instructions and comic-book-style science lessons were effective for my 5-year-old and my 8-year-old. We plan to try this one again.

We tried one kit from Creation Crate’s Tech Prodigy subscription, aimed at ages 10 and up. We ran into customer service issues—I couldn’t get anyone to respond in the chat feature on the website, via email, or over the phone when I called the number for more information before ordering. (That lack of interaction suggests that it would be hard to cancel the subscription or make an exchange if necessary.) The website says the projects are great for adults, but I struggled to understand the video-style explanation of how to create our mood lamp and assemble the circuits. This offering is best for someone who already has knowledge of electrical engineering.

The Little Passports Craft Discovery box is aimed at kids ages 5 to 8, and it includes everything you need to create “seasonally relevant” DIY crafts focused on art, science, geography, and culture topics. One editor and her son tested the Party Piñatas kit. The oak tag-like material used to make the piñata bases was too flimsy to stay together, and she found the directions confusing. Ultimately she gave up shortly after her 6-year-old did.

We considered Disrupt the Cycle, specifically the Black History Craft Box, as a culture-themed option. However, we dismissed it before ordering based on its mediocre aesthetic. Also, the included supplies—such as an empty cookbook without covers, Black-history stickers, and a chip-bag activity—were items that we could purchase at a craft store. On top of that, the shipping was very high.

Curiosity Box Kids initially caught my interest on Cratejoy. However, compared with projects in other craft subscription boxes, this box’s projects appeared less original and of lower quality for the price.

Outside the Box Creation offered the best art-supply box we tried for kids ages 5 through 11 when we considered it in 2017. Each box includes all of the supplies necessary for a child to learn a new art concept, with clear instructions and a picture book. Some of the projects, like the printmaking box we tested, are messy and need a parent’s help to set up so that they don’t ruin the kitchen table.

The Preschool Box had great educational materials and crafts that kids could complete themselves, but it felt more like a box of lesson plans than a fun crafting treat. However, if you’re looking for an educational box for preschoolers that will help them with numbers, the alphabet, and many of the concepts they’ll need to know for kindergarten, this would be a fantastic subscription for your family.

The Young Artist Paletteful Pack was one of three art-supply subscriptions we looked at in 2017. Unlike our picks, this box comes with just a few good-quality art supplies and no instructions, and we were really looking for something to give kids more guidance.

Bitsbox is a subscription that guides kids in creating apps on the Bitsbox website that can function on any mobile device. Geared toward ages 6 to 12, it comes with instructions for both parents and kids to help them learn to code. We opted not to try it.

Little Global Citizens is an educational box aimed at helping kids from ages 5 to 12 understand people and cultures around the world via single-country kits. Although we considered it in 2024 (when it was offered as a subscription), it was considerably more expensive than our pick, Little Passports World Adventures.

We did not test Lovevery Play Kits for this guide because they target a younger age group, and they are more boxes of related toys than craft kits. We now have a separate article about toy subscription boxes.

Mail Order Mystery is an activity box that includes a series of letters, puzzles, and packages, creating a personalized mystery for kids to solve. Kids can receive mailings with the well-thought-out clues weekly over six weeks or all at once. We feature this kit in our guide to the best gifts for 10-year-olds.

This article was edited by Amy Miller Kravetz and Kalee Thompson.