Little World Builder : Subscription Box Review

What comes in the box?

In the initial box you get a toolbox, map, welcome postcard from the two characters and a scrapbook cover. In subsequent boxes, you get the model kit, a souvenir from the country, entry ticket, scrapbook pages and stickers, postcard from the characters, information about the building and an activity booklet.

My children weren’t overly bothered about the world map and stickers, which is probably because we didn’t display the map. We do however have a large map canvas on our wall and we located the countries on that instead. They did like the activity sheets and sticking in the scrapbook pages.

How we used the kits

Little World Builder day was an exciting day for the children! The boxes are very distinctive when they arrive and they often couldn’t wait to get stuck in. We would take a read of the postcard, locate the country on our world map and have a read of the accompanying information. Daniel would set about building the model, and the other two children would do the other souvenir task. This was sometimes excavating for jewels or making shrinking musical instruments.

When the models were made up we would have a good look at them and the children at one stage created a whole city around them. It was interesting to see them categorising them as towers or halls, places of work or worship. We also chatted about whether we thought they were made to the same scale, so is Big Ben taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Empire State Building? It was great that their interest extended beyond the initial building.

What I Really Liked

What I really liked about these kits is the models – they’re absolutely fantastic. They’ve stood up well to the children playing with them and they’re amazingly realistic. The instructions for making them are clear enough that D could manage to follow them on his own. There are some that are definitely fiddlier than others to make up, but with some help he managed it and he was really proud of his buildings.

The attention to detail on the models makes them instantly recognisable and the children are now always spotting them in their books or when we see images in magazines or the newspapers. Even H at four can identify them.

My only slight disappointment was with the information sheets that came with the boxes. I will caveat this with the fact that we have bought a subscription to Mysteries in Time and the activity book that comes with that is particularly extensive. I think we have been somewhat spoilt by that and I think, had we not seen that activity book, my view might be a little different. Whenever I’ve had geography-based subscription boxes I’ve felt that the activity sheets are a little lacking. There’s so much that can be done alongside a geography project and I think there’s a trick being missed here.

However, the information supplied is fine and more than enough to learn about the building, and in some instances, I have supplemented with a small project (as in the case if the Taj Mahal box). There’s plenty of facts and figures and information to keep enquiring young minds busy!

How to subscribe to Little World Builder

There are two options, a classic builder or mini builder. The mini builder, I think, doesn’t come with the toolbox or the additional souvenir toy. You can subscribe for a one-off box, but it works out much cheaper to subscribe for the whole six months – £35 for the classic builder or £23 for the mini builder. You can also add on extra activity packs and stickers which is perfect for siblings! It’s not an expensive addition either at just £5. There’s postage to add on too.