My Twin Toddlers Tried the Kodomochallenge Box and Here’s My Review

Thank you Benesse Kodomochallenge for sponsoring this post.

This box caught me off guard. To be totally honest, when I first heard about the Benesse Kodomochallenge box, I wasn’t entirely convinced that my twins, Ames and Joules, were going to like it. They were 2.5 years old at the time and the box was made for 1-2-year-olds. I was mainly worried that they would be too old for the content or just wouldn’t take an interest in it—but—boy, was I wrong! Some of my twins’ most beloved toys have come from it. True story: Ames and Joules actually ended up playing so heavily with the items that I had to get them a replacement box. Since we’ve had ours for over 6 months now, I wanted to share a review with all of my thoughts, including the pros and cons and whether I would recommend it to other toddler parents.

Let’s back up, though. Let me explain what the Kodomochallenge actually is. It’s a monthly subscription box of hands-on materials that provide multisensory learning opportunities for 1-2-year-olds. For 6 months, they send a monthly box full of fun ways to learn about important early childhood subjects—like social skills, colors, sizes, foods, and more. Each monthly box includes 1 educational toy, video content, an interactive picture booklet, and a parental support guide. It’s a well-known and trusted brand in Asia with over 2 million subscribers and was created by childhood development specialists with over 30 years of preschool education experience. We received the first 3 months of content—and it’s kept my twins rather entertained. (Later, I’ll tell you what their favorite part of the content was!)

 One of the main pros of the Kodomochallenge is that it takes a multisensory approach to learning. Every child learns differently--including my own twins. That said, the content--whether it’s video, booklet, or hands-on toys—offers a learning method fit for each unique child. The content itself touches on important early education topics in ways that are engaging and interesting. My kids would literally smile, wave, and talk to the characters in the videos! I also like that the Kodomochallenge incorporates ways for parents to join and play along. The box itself arrived conveniently on our doorstep (everyone’s preferred way of shopping these days, right?) in great condition. After examining each item, I felt everything was safe for my young children to enjoy.

The first box was about introducing a little tiger puppet named Shimajiro and the content covered basic greetings and communication skills. Included was the puppet, a reading booklet, a disk with coordinating video content, and a parental guide. My twins enjoyed the first box’s materials, but it was really the second box that stole their hearts.

 The second box was about comparing sizes and colors. To teach this, they include a set of Russian dolls that were red, blue, and yellow and a color-coordinating paper “house” for the dolls. These 3 Russian dolls and their house were hands-down the BIGGEST hit of it all for us. My kids still play with it daily at 3 years old!

The third box was about discovering food and included some fun wooden food toys for hands-on learning.

I want to be as honest as possible given this is a review. That said, there were a few aspects that I might change if it were up to me. The first thing was that the paper used for some of the materials probably could be a little thicker. Mainly, I’m referring to the Russian doll’s paper house. Ours started ripping within the first week (but that might be because I had two really interested toddlers who played heavily with it)! Another thing was that they sent a DVD of the video content, but I don’t think a DVD is really necessary these days. They give you a code to access the content on their website which is what we did--because, like a lot of people, we don’t have a DVD player anymore. The last thing was that they only have 6 boxes and they’re only for ages 1-2 years old. Seeing as how my children had such a great time with the content, it would be nice if they could expand the learning materials to include those a little older (like 3-4 years old).

Despite everything (and given I was pleasantly surprised by how much my twins enjoyed it all), I’m overall happy with our first 3 boxes of the Kodomochallenge. For anyone looking for some new at-home learning and entertainment for young toddlers aged 1-2 years old, I would recommend trying the Kodomochallenge!