Toka Box is a monthly kids subscription that sends out a South Asian culture-appropriate hand-picked picture book along with an activity curated specifically around the theme of the book. There are 2 subscriptions to choose from: Toka Box Junior (ages 3-5), and Toka Box Explorer (ages 5-8).

Cost

$24.99/month + FREE shipping. (Reduced subscription options with 3, 6 and 12-month plans).

DEAL: Get $5.00 off your first box by signing up for their newsletter.  

Disclosure: Toka Box kindly sent me this box for review purposes. No other compensation was received. All opinions expressed in this post are mine. 

This review is for Toka Box Junior (ages 3-5). Love this message on the box that illustrates the importance of eating healthy and balanced meals through textural play.

What’s inside

• Hand-picked book
• Fun activity with all the materials
• Bonus recipe

The idea behind Toka Box is to inspire the next generation by allowing them to stay culturally connected. Furthermore, each monthly box aspires to build self-esteem and strengthen family bonds by providing a rich learning experience. The themes range from reading and math to pre-history, science engineering, and art. Also, the contents of Toka Box subtly build important life skills such as patience and problem-solving.

June’s theme was all about eating healthy! Such a fun and important concept to teach our little ones about.

The instructions were very detailed with pictures making it easier to follow through.

A super helpful guide listing all the items in your box. Along with an introduction to the word “Thali”. Since this month’s theme was about eating healthy, our activity involved making a healthy placement with balanced meal portions on it!

A Silly Story of Bondapalli by Shamim Padamsee

The star item of our box was this hand-picked picture book about a prince who hated food.

It was a blast to read out loud to my 3 years old who thoroughly enjoyed the story. The illustrations were fun with witty wordings making it a truly silly story!

After reading the book, we hopped onto our fun activity that my daughter couldn’t wait to get into.

All the materials needed to make your healthy placemat can be seen below.

Dot painting and making a pattern for our placemat. An easy hands-on activity that lets your little ones be creative. Another thing I definitely appreciate is that you receive all the materials needed for your craft, so you really don’t need anything from your end. Always makes life easier as a busy parent.

Next, we had to use the blue paint to make our placemat using the provided stencil.

Painting is my daughter’s favorite activity and she can spend hours doing it – so this was definitely a win-win. 🙂

We glued the plastic sheet over our orange dotted pattern to complete our healthy placemat! We also received 5 different groups of food pictures so that we can apply practically what we learned through this hands-on activity.

I personally felt it was a great introduction for my little one about portion sizes and the different kinds of food to have on your plate. And because she made this healthy placemat herself, it is something she is surely going to remember!

Verdict

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We loved Toka Box as it turned out to be a very innovative cultural kids subscription. The selection of the book was also appropriate for indian readers as well as non-indian readers. What I liked about Toka Box is that they have very carefully curated a cultural-specific box, but at the same time incorporated practical life skills and STEAM-based play within the activities. Therefore, it is perfect for kids who would like to read, create and innovate while having fun at the same time. You wouldn’t want to miss Toka Box!

Have you tried Toka Box? Share your comments below. 🙂