Little Passports Subscription Review for Little Globetrotters

See the Globetrotters take on one of the latest and greatest global adventures – Little Passports!

So we talk a lot on the blog about our “worldly travels” but the reality is, much of the year we do spend at home. When pondering how we keep up the Globetrotters interest in the world around them and learning about other countries during our down times, we came across Little Passports – a Global Adventure in a box?! Let’s take a look!

This post is part of our tried and tested product series

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How Little Passports works

Little Passports are a home learning subscription service for eager geography buffs or those keen to learn more about the world in a fun and interactive way.

They come in a few stages and categories to fit your world explorers including Early Explorers (3-5 years), World Edition (6-10 years) and USA Edition (7-12 years).

Through the eyes of their mascots (Max & Mia for the Early Explorers or Sam & Sofia for the older edition), kids are taken off on a world adventure.

First up you will receive a starter pack in the first month, then a new adventure is added each month of your subscription.  Let’s take you right through a couple of the subscription packs with my Globetrotters and we’ll explain exactly what you get (and most importantly, what’s the fun-factor – right?!)

Early Explorers Review

(Recommended for 3-5 year olds: Tested by Master L, 4 years old)

So upfront the Early Explorers receive:

• A sturdy little suitcase for storing all their monthly goodies
• A kids passport which they can decorate and write their name on – this was perfect for our just turned 4 Master L who wants to practice his writing on anything and everything!
• Stickers – very important stickers!
• A world map with continents

Next up you receive a small monthly package to add to your adventure. Master L received the “Landmarks” package next, bursting with little goodies. These included

• 5 landmark figurines
• playing cards with world landmarks
• stickers to put on your world map
• spotlight activity

He has been delighted with his kit and walks around lovingly with his little suitcase. I’m not sure its all sunk in yet but has definitely sparked his curiosity and he was very happy with his haul.  

So was big sister, who I think was a little jealous of his items. The Early Explorers seemed to have more “fun bits” so I would suggest they suit until at least 6 years of age.

Note my nearly 2 year old loved it all too – nearly destroying it before the fun had begun!! I know we want our kids to take an interest but I would definitely stick to the guideline starting age of 3!

There are currently 17 themed packs available so an Early Explorer’s subscription can last up to 18 months, including: landmarks, music, animals, food, art, oceans, natural wonders, world coins, space, world discoveries, dinosaurs, science, celebrations, habitats, transportation, insects, and sports.

Little Passports World Edition

(Recommended for 6 – 10 year olds, tested by Miss Z, 6 years old)

Our Miss Z received a trial of the Little Passports World Edition. In the initial box you get

• a sturdy blue suitcase
• first boarding pass
• a passport (looks very real)
• a world map
• letter from pen pals Sam & Sofia
• stickers, photo and activity sheets
• parent welcome letter

The monthly kits then focus on a particular country. Her first pack was for Brazil and included

• a letter from Sam & Sofia
• a Brazil activity book
• an amethyst rock
• a postcard of a uakari monkey
• sticker for passport
• a boarding pass (also can use as luggage tag) to unlock a new area of the website

So a lot of the actual activities for the World Edition are actually included in an exclusive members’ area of the Little Passports Website – this was something very new for Miss 6 and I, we have done most of her activities before in books and physically being somewhere!  

While she did enjoy having her special boarding pass, because it needed a fair bit of mummy interaction and time to explain things she got a little frustrated.  A more independent learner though used to computers would thrive with this sort of activity.

She loved the suitcase, the world map and the passport, but I think because of her age she was a little jealous that there were more collectable items like in the Early Explorers kit.

She didn’t have as many stickers and the letter and instructions were quite wordy for her, she just wanted to dig in.  She did truly adore the amethyst rock (shiny things), but little explanation was in the kit on this, it did inspire us to do our own independent internet research together on amethyst, so nonetheless we got the educational element from it!

The passport has literally been around the world with us already.  Most places we have passed through when they understand its a toy and the purpose are more than happy to entertain her by checking it and stamping it for her; there are plenty of spare pages for this to be done, as well as the monthly stickers for each country they’ll receive.

There are currently 35 countries covered by the World Edition subscription, so that’s a whopping 3 years of education & entertainment value!  Countries covered in the monthly packs include: Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam!

Our Globetrotters Recommend

My hesitation on looking into home learning kits for the Globetrotters was would they really be interested when they’ve already “seen the real thing” and actually gone exploring around the world themselves? The answer is yes, absolutely!  

If anything it has truly instilled their travel bug even more and lead to some really enthusiastic discussions about the world and what sort of things they can find in what countries. The world maps are now proudly displayed in their rooms and regularly discussed and pointed to.  

The kids prefer the more detailed map in the World Edition that shows countries rather than continents and they get great pleasure pointing to the places we have been, as well as challenging each other to find places.

So whether your kids are still at the armchair discovery stage or you want to use a subscription service as part of a more in depth homeschooling geography unit, I think these are a great starting point to whet their appetite for world travel.

Little Passports Subscription Costs (within the United States)

A number of options exist including monthly, 6 month or 12-month subscription for all three products. They would work ideally as a gift to send to family and friends with children – like any sort of subscription service they are the gift that keeps on giving throughout the year!!

[Prices updated June 2017 – please check on their website]

Option 1:  Buy an entire year upfront for $155.40, plus a onetime shipping fee of $36 = $15.95 per month.

Option 2: Buy in 6 monthly subscriptions for $83.70, plus a onetime shipping fee of $18 = $16.95 per month

Option 3:  Buy a month at a time, or just the introductory box for $14.95 + $3 in shipping = $17.95 per month (note just the box on its own probably won’t derive a lot of value, you really want to purchase at least a few of the add on kits).

Note the Early Explorers kits are slightly more expensive as they have more items in them; the costs work out to: 12 months $239.40/$19.95 per month; 6 months $125.70 $20.95 per month; One month $21.95

Shipping of Little Passports Subscriptions (outside of the United States)

Although it was initially a US subscription service, the list of countries that they ship to is ever expanding.  There is a separate site for UK subscriptions, otherwise they ship from the US monthly orders to:

Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea & Sweden.

Outside of these countries, there is still a cost-effective option to have all 12 months’ worth sent in one shipment.

(For our UAE customers contact  support@littlepassports.com (let them know Our Globetrotters sent you there!) and they will quote you for the shipping cost via FedEx.)

If you’re ready to send your child on an adventure, click on over to Little Passports and check out which subscription kit would suit your little Globetrotters best.

 You can see further Globetrotter product recommendations here

Disclosures: I was provided with two subscription boxes for the purpose of conducting an honest review. This article contains affiliate links. If you subscribe to this product after clicking through our links we will receive a small payment, which we use to keep this website running free for parents. We only recommend products that we have tried, tested and loved! See our full disclosures here.

© Our Globetrotters

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