Review: Globe Trotters Japan Themed Activity Box

The Globe Trotters Japan Themed Activity Box is a must have for Japan lovers and children of travel crazy parents like me. From the food to the culture, the box not only introduces the child to the beautiful country of Japan, but also gives them a chance to experience the rich heritage with their themed activities.

If you follow my blog or my social media, you might probably have heard me mention that my daughter is simply crazy about ‘all things Japanese’. In fact, I mentioned that in my review of the Globe Trotters Egypt themed box and the friendly team at Globe Trotters were super awesome to send across the Globe Trotters Japan themed activity box specially for her! I kept the news a secret and waited for the box to arrive. If I could only describe the dance of joy!

Just like my last Globe Trotters review, I will let the pictures speak for themselves about the fun we had with all the Japan themed activities 🙂

Here is a first glimpse inside! After the tussle they had for the ‘passport’ in the last box, my kids were happy to get another passport. All good until the little one grows up to ask for her own!

The friendly Globe Trotters mascot Wak, Oyo and Zu welcomed us once again – dressed in Japanese attire this time. My daughter enjoyed reading the introductory info and enlightening us about Japan. Turns out she knew almost all of it already!

The Japan box is filled with treasures indeed! From Sushi to Origami, nothing was missing.

The box includes the world map and the key like the one in the Egypt box. We already had one but it has made things easier now that we have two groups of friends – boys and girls! So the girls gang had their own fun locating the items on the map. But our first and most enjoyable group activity was the board game.

Treasures of Japan Board Game

Summer vacations are the perfect time to receive a new board game. This board game has quickly become one of our favorites and we play it almost EVERY DAY!

The kids quickly asked their friends to join in the fun and soon, they were all busy collecting ‘Japanese Treasures’.

Just like all the other activities in the box, the game includes education with fun. The ‘treasure’ cards are popular Japanese monuments and traditional foods and arts. So, along with winning and losing and throwing the dice, the kids were soon talking about ‘Sakura’, ‘Tori’ and ‘Katana’ like they have always known them! I encouraged the kids to read about each treasure that they collected and they went home full of Japan 🙂

DIY Origami Kit

The Japanese art of origami is widely known but my daughter (and I) had no clue you could create a kimono by folding paper! My paper folding art is pretty much stuck at making paper boats lol. But the DIY origami kit in the Globe Trotters Japan box is something else. It has beautifully patterned papers along with solid colors. Here are a couple of things my daughter created.

And she helped her brother make a whale too! That was pretty much all my son did, other than playing the board game every day. This box was clearly marked for the Japan lover in my family and she did not let anyone else touch it!

DIY Japanese Paper Fan

It simply won’t be a Japanese themed activity box without the paper fans! I was actually humming the ‘Sayonara’ song while my daughter was making them. What is with us Indians and that song? We can never think of Japan without thinking of that song…lol!

About the fans, I am sure we all have done the accordion folds all our school life. But this DIY kit makes really pretty fans. The paper included is large in size and is printed with cartoon faces. And those ends – that we never quite knew what to do with – are very well taken care of!

DIY Felt Sushi

The most interesting DIY activity was making felt sushi! The kit contained everything and it is very easy to make real and yummy looking sushi rolls. You cannot really go wrong with this one.

The only tricky part was gluing the felt. The hard felt was very difficult to glue together and the fabric glue included was not very effective on it. It will need stronger glue to hold that stiff felt.

Japan Souvenirs – Japanese Food Shaped Erasers

Ok, so I was expecting something more like the souvenir from the Egypt box. A keepsake to add my collection. But my daughter’s reaction made me realize that the box is for her, not me! She fell in love with these detailed erasers and has forbade anyone to touch them. They are a ‘collectible’ for her.

So our play kitchen now has some Japanese play food added to it. Big sis has made it clear to little big bro that they are ‘NOT erasers’, in case he is tempted to do the unthinkable!

The cute erasers are not as simple as they look. In fact, I was completely impressed when my daughter showed me the details. The food items in the miniature bento box and sizzler come out individually. The egg and the fish are also extremely intricately designed and can be opened up!

A Japanese Tea Party

Once all the activities were done, we had a pretend Japanese tea party! It was more of a picnic party. We had our fans and the pretend play food and Sushi.

And of course, we dressed up our little sissie! That kimono belonged to big sis when she was 3 years old and was purchased for her from Thailand. Now she gladly gifted it to her baby sister who was thrilled to wear it for the ‘tea party’.

And you don’t need a reason to click pics when your children dress up, so here are some more ‘moods’ 🙂

Final Thoughts on Globe Trotters Japan Box

Kudos to Globe Trotters for coming up with such interesting activities based on different countries. After the mystic Egypt, we had fun diving into the rich heritage of Japan through the themed activities. I cannot tell you how much I love the entire concept. Maybe I am partial because I caught the travel bug early in my life. But whatever the reason, in these global times, we need more such activities for our kids and I recommend Globe Trotters for everyone!