Wonder Garden
The Wonder Garden is a subscription-based education-in-a-box system produced in China for children in the early developmental ages of Birth to Six. Testers noted how the box that arrives is appealing and generates lots of excitement. Children were eager to discover what was inside. Based on the child’s age, each box will be different but always age-appropriate. We received 3 different age boxes and noted that the content closely aligned with the developmental stages, whether they are still at home, starting Pre-K, etc. While the instructions for parents were written in Chinese, the words on printed materials for children are bilingual, with both Chinese and English words and characters. The entire line is impressive and executed marvelously. Each age is considered thoughtfully and comprehensively. Our testers were especially intrigued by the ability of the Wonder Garden box to capture the attention of children under 1. This is not an easy audience to keep focused and interested. However, Wonder Garden seems to have found the secret sauce for this. Parents with the 7-month-old box were thrilled and surprised to witness the smiles, reaching, grabbing, and interaction their babies demonstrated. An example would be the hardcover, durable Baby Faces book. The realistic faces show children’s facial expressions with the word written underneath. This is a great way to help build children’s vocabulary and expose them to facial expressions even at that young age. And the Montessori Permanence Box is a great way to help develop gross motor skills. Kids or adults can drop the provided balls in the hole, and children can begin to learn cause and effect. The wooden balls are a good size, large enough that a 7-month-old would not be able to put them in their mouth. This kind of attention to detail and the mission of broadening the horizons of young babies and children impressed our testers the most.