Subscription boxes offer a range of hands-on activities aimed at particular age ranges and interests. They’re all about learning through doing and imagining rather than only reading. Your level of supervision depends largely on your child’s need, but some need more adult involvement than others.

Suitable for: Ages 3-8, sibling boxes available

Frequency: Monthly

Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscription packages from £5.95/€8.50 per month + postage

This is a good all-rounder activity box that includes craft activities, a magazine featuring puzzles, games, recipes, and an assortment of stickers. Your child’s personalised box contains all supplies needed to make that month’s craft.

toucanBox boasts Montessori-influenced STEAM learning and creativity. They’ll have some hands-on fun and learn a bit about science and artists as well. Parental involvement will depend on your child’s age.

Suitable for: Ages 3-8, sibling boxes available

Frequency: Monthly

Price: £13.95/€16 per month

Getting muddy has been popular with children since forever, but now you can channel their love of mud for education and creativity.

Mud & Bloom boxes include seasonal activities such as nature crafts, seeds to plant, and games. Children will search for some of the materials outdoors, and there are small parts and things to read, so parents should supervise.

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Suitable for: Ages 4-10

Frequency: Monthly

Price: £25/€30 for the initial shipment, then £12/€14 per month

Geo Journey is a fun way for children to learn about the world around them via facts, fun and even souvenirs.

The initial shipment is a sturdy little suitcase, a personalised letter, passport, travel journal and more. After that, each month your child will receive a personalised letter from Geo the owl and Atlas the puppy about their travels around the world with stickers, activities, booklets and a little souvenir from each destination (e.g. a boomerang from Australia). Smaller children will need help reading the letter, but older ones can do it independently.

Space Journey is a similar offering, instead focussing on the solar system, space and astronaut life.

Suitable for: Ages 6+

Frequency: Monthly

Price: From £11.25/€15 per box

If your child enjoys science and engineering, the Letterbox Lab subscription is just the thing. Everything you will need for the experiments is provided, so there is no prep time or extra materials to go hunting for.

There are two subscription offers to choose from:

• Explore is for kids aged 6+ and includes 3-4 activities designed to occupy a few hours.
• Investigate is for ages 8+ and includes experiments and lab equipment (save everything for future boxes!) and can keep children busy for about six hours. The age is higher because it involves some reactive chemicals.

These boxes require supervision, but they include everything you’ll need except water.

Suitable for: Ages 3+

Frequency: Monthly

Price: From £7.25 per month for 12 months

Receive a fun-filled seasonal box every month to combat any day, not just rainy ones. Each Rainy Day Box contains several fun activities, separately packaged within the box, simple instructions, a reward chart, reward sticker and more.

Suitable for: Ages 7-11

Frequency: Monthly

Price: €140 per year

This one is a great gift for animal-loving children. First, you’ll receive a welcome pack which includes an interactive world map, collectible animal cards, and an exclusive Amazing Planet pin badge. Then, each monthly Amazing Planet box focuses on a different part of the world and its animal population, allowing your child to get up-close-and-personal with the local wildlife, with the help of themed booklets, interactive animal cards and gifts.

This one won’t get the kids off the screens entirely as it pairs with the Amazing Planet app (available for both iOS and android) for photos, quizzes and games that bring everything to life using augmented reality. Parental involvement depends on your child’s reading ability.

Suitable for: Babies to teens

Frequency: Monthly or bi-monthly, depending on the subscription

Price: Varies

KiwiCo offers a range of boxes for different ages from newborns to older teens, with plenty to appeal to all ages and interests, from science and crafts to kitchen skills and art.

• The Panda Crate caters for babies up to age 2 with the contents changing as your baby develops. This could be a good gift for anyone who is expecting because you can order it in advance and give the due date.
• The Koala Crate for preschoolers includes 2-3 projects around a theme such as camping, rainbows or a doctor visit.
• The Kiwi Crate for ages 5 to 8 features STEM-focused crafts for fun, interactive learning. They can make a kite, a stomp rocket or an arcade claw game, for example.
• The Atlas Crate teaches 6-11 year olds about different countries through crafts, recipes and games.
• The Yummy Crate gets 6-14 year olds into the kitchen to unlock the science of cooking and gain confidence in the kitchen.
• The Tinker Crate is aimed at ages 9+ and takes the STEM learning up a notch with projects such as building a walking robot, a hydraulic claw and a trebuchet.
• The Doodle Crate is full of crafts for young artists aged 14+, such as felt succulent plants and homemade soap.
• The Maker Crate is a more design-oriented collection of crafts for ages 14+, such as a clay desk organiser and macrame plant hangers.
• Budding engineers aged 14+ will enjoy the Eureka Crate projects, including an articulated desk lamp and a wooden ukulele.

Suitable for: Teens

Frequency: Monthly

Price: £24.95 per month

Each month, you’ll receive a limited edition craft kit to make beautiful things and learn new skills. It could be book-binding, ceramics, macrame, paper-making, cyanotype printing – or something completely different!

All Craftiosity kits come with the essential tools and materials in the box and step-by-step instructions to make something you’ll love. Better still, there are video tutorials you can watch to help you complete the project.

Suitable for: Ages 2+

Frequency: Monthly

Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscriptions available; from $87 for 3 months

Each month your budding chef can look forward to a new culinary adventures with award winning educational food and culture kits from Eat2Explore. They will get to explore a new country across 4 continent groups every month.

They also offer gluten-free and vegetarian subscription gifts.

Suitable for: Babies to teens

Frequency: Monthly

Price: From £34.99 for 3 months

The Willoughby Book Club offers numerous book subscription gifts to choose from, including several for children:

• Baby Book Club is a great introduction for children aged 0-12 months
• Toddler Book Club will help foster a lifelong love of books and reading for 1-3 year olds
• Children’s Book Club is the perfect gift for budding readers aged 4-12 years old, based on their reading interests
• Young Adult Book Club for ages 13+ will introduce new fiction titles and keep teens engaged with reading.

Suitable for: Ages 5+

Frequency: Monthly

Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscriptions available; from £2.oo per month

Make reading and writing the highlight of your child’s week with this highly personalised subscription that includes real letters from a magical cat!

With his first letters, Banjo sends a big, beautiful world map poster so that your child can track along with him on his travels and add stickers to it with every country that he visits. Twice a month Banjo visits new countries and sends personalised letters, along with a recipe, stickers, colouring-in sheet, reply stationery and travel guide for that country.

Better still, Banjo will reply to your child!

Suitable for: Varies

Frequency: Monthly

Price: From £9 per month

The Little Bakers Club is a monthly box which is delivered to your Little Baker, so they can learn to bake something, from monster cupcakes to flapjacks to cake pops. Each box includes all the pre-weighed dry ingredients, a step-by-step recipe card, and a little activity to do.

Suitable for: Ages 0-14

Frequency: Monthly

Price: €150

Imagine the excitement of receiving a new book in the post each month! This book subscription gift from Dubray is ideal for the younger booklover in your life, as a new, gift-wrapped book is delivered each month, chosen to suit their tastes and interests and to encourage a love of reading.

Currently this service is only offered to a delivery address on the island of Ireland.

Magazine subscriptions are a tried and true staple for all ages, and most magazines will offer some kind of subscription (frequency may vary). These are a great idea for both avid readers and for kids who need some fun encouragement to read.

Suitable for: Ages 6-11

Frequency: 13 issues per year

Price: €45 per year

Each month’s issue of Nat Geo Kids is packed full of fascinating facts, puzzles and breath-taking imagery about the environment, animals, history and culture.

Suitable for: Ages 7-14

Frequency: Weekly

Price: £84.99/€100 for 6 months

If you’ve ever hidden vegetables in other foods, you’ll appreciate the logic of this comic. Yes, The Phoenix includes fun and silly comic stories, but it also sneaks in some history and encourages children to draw their own comics.

Suitable for: Ages 8-13

Frequency: Monthly

Price: €76 per year

Aimed at curious and confident readers, Aquila makes science, history and general knowledge accessible to children, combining articles with puzzles and beautiful illustrations. Each issue focuses on a theme such as dinosaurs or coding.

Suitable for: Babies to teens

Frequency: Weekly

Price: Intro offer of first 3 months for £10; £49 for 6 months

Join Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie and all their Beano friends in this classic comic favourite that generations have enjoyed. With a Beano subscription, you’re guaranteed your weekly helping of mischief, mayhem and crazy comic fun by having it delivered straight to your door, before it’s in the shops.