Little Learners Busy Box

What's in the box: Each themed box holds 3 (mini) or 5 (big) hands-on activities that teach early skills like letters, counting, sorting, and fine motor work, and the pieces can be mixed and matched.

Little Learners Busy Box is a monthly subscription of themed educational activities for toddlers and preschoolers. It was created by a mom who also directs an educational co-op, and the boxes are built for busy parents who want something a young child can mostly do alone. You choose a plan, and the site says pre-paid plans save money. Boxes ship on the 5th of each month. There are two sizes: a mini box with 3 activities and a big box with 5. The pieces can be mixed and matched, so one box can be used in many different ways, and the materials are meant to be reused and stored for later play. The skills covered are early learning basics: letter recognition and sounds, numbers and counting, one to one correspondence, matching, sorting, same and different, fine motor work, and sensory play. The themes repeat on a 48 month cycle, so a family can get up to four years of boxes without seeing the same theme twice. Note that the brand calls these busy boxes, not Montessori materials, and the site does not say what the items are made of. The mini box is small, so families who want more variety should look at the big box. Overall it is a practical choice for keeping a little one busy and learning.