One of Lila’s new favorite things to do when coming home from daycare is run to her latest Sproutkin box and select two new books for me to read to her and Matthew.  And I am only too happy to oblige. Before bedtime we read old favorites from our personal library, but before dinner they literally dance with excitement over “New Book” time.  So while Daddy cooks (yay Daddy!), we gather in the armchair and read one or two selections from our new treasure chest, the Sproutkin box.

Sproutkin is a children’s book subscription service starting at $25 a month in which a selection of approximately 10 titles, generally centered around a common theme, are mailed  direct to your doorstep. We subscribe to the preschooler box in which you can receive an unlimited number of boxes per month, and can request a new shipment and not have to send the previous one back (postage paid!) until the new one arrives.

Sure, you could always go to your local library and enjoy books for free (and we do!) but there is just something special about having a list curated for you with titles I had long forgotten about, or that I may otherwise have never come across. And what 3 year old (and 30 year old!) doesn’t like getting a package in the mail?!  In fact, I don’t know who’s more excited to get a new box, me or Lila! Already she recognizes the green-illustrated cardboard box and is always super-excited to open it up and select which two (or three, or four) books that we should read first.

And then there’s me, anxiously peering over her shoulder with matched eagerness, squealing with delight at the sight of classics I enjoyed as a child (Stone Soup, Caps for Sale) and reveling in the re-reading and introduction of them to the Babes. And together we’ve discovered new favorites that have now become permanent fixtures on our shelves.  A recently received box entitled “Bon Appetit” centered around the themes of food and community. It included an old favorite Blueberries for Sal and new gems such as The Ugly Vegetables and How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. The Babes were so enamored with the rhythmic words in Bee Bim Bop that we tried our hand at the included recipe (OK, Daddy made it ) and now this delicious traditional Korean dish has made an appearance on our dinner table several times since then!

Additional themes that have been explored are “friends helping friends” and “Imagination”  and each of these kits have included instructions and suggestions for real-life applications to try. Good reads, great messages, and fostering a love of reading and discovery in the Babes is an idea I can subscribe to!

*This is an unpaid, personal review of a service that I have used and loved, and simply wanted to share.