Here are three key things to look for in an educational subscription box:
1. The first activity can be done in a prescribed amount of time
It's important to look for a box that doesn't take a full day for your kids to accomplish something. We all know their attention span is limited, and you don't want the first experience with their new activity to end in frustration and exhaustion. Completing the activity shouldn't feel like a chore that needs to be finished.
Look for a box that can be done in several chunks of time. The first package of Bitsbox, for example, contains three tutorial apps that a new coder can build in less than thirty minutes. These apps are bite-size projects compared to the Real Deal Bitsbox Apps, but they're perfect for welcoming newbie coders and rewarding kids right off the bat with fun, working apps! Early successes lead to long-term fanaticism.
2. Repeat usability
It's also important that the materials in the box are activities that kids can come back to repeatedly. Plutarch once said "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
Educating your kids isn't about flooding their brains with facts just for the heck of it. It's about lighting a spark that excites them to learn and come back for more! Subscription boxes are great tools to encourage that excitement because they're essentially presents that come in the mail every month!
Bitsbox's monthly shipments come with more than enough app projects to last kids all month long. Plus, once they code all of the projects we provide, they have the freedom to tweak and customize their apps. Repeat usability? Check!
3. The boxes come in an intentional sequence
You want an educational subscription box that delivers activities in a purposeful sequence. There are many subscriptions that send the same box to all of their subscribers every month, but that's not the way that kids learn best.
Similar to how math is taught in school, kids excel when they're given time to master the basics and gradually challenged to build their knowledge over time.
Take Bitsbox, for example: We introduce the most basic coding concepts at the beginning of a subscription, and build on those skills as the months go on. With this method, kids have time to build a solid foundation of coding knowledge in preparation for more complex concepts down the road.
Our learning system allows kids to pace themselves, start where they left off if they take a break, and build the confidence to code their own apps from scratch once they're ready.
This logical progression helps kids both learn better, and have something to look forward to every month knowing their apps can be even more complex and cool!
If you're interested in learning more about educating your kids using subscription boxes, check out our post 4 reasons subscription boxes for kids are the best tools to learn new skills.
