Most of my kids have gone through phases where they love to role play and put on skits. I firmly believe that when my children role play, tell stories, and express themselves through play, they internalize the subject matter on a deeper level than when we simply read about and quiz about the topic. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review the Revolutionary War Tricorn and Mob Hat Kit sold on Amazon by Creative Kids Toys.

The Revolutionary War Tricorn Hat and Mob Hat Bundle comes with a kid’s tricorn hat, a mob hat, colonial play money, American Revolution coloring book by Dover Publications and Revolutionary War fact sheet. The bundle sells for $22.95.

My 9, 10, and 12-year-old boys found this kit in my bedroom and begged to be allowed to play with it right away. After giving them my permission, I didn’t hear back from them for hours. They loved being able to yell lines they have learned studying history such as “The British are coming; the British are coming!” and “Give me liberty or give me death!” They played with the toy soldiers and recreated battles and took turns wearing the tricorn hat and warning of impending doom.

The hats were very high quality and will stand up to the use of busy and bustling students for years to come. The envelope of “Colonial Currency” gives a short history of the currency of our country and why we use dollars as opposed to pounds. The paper bills/notes of credit are printed on antique feeling paper and give the student a true sense of how the currency probably felt like and looked like. The coloring book, “Heroes and Heroines of the American Revolution” by Peter Copeland and put out by Dover Publications, is so much more than just a coloring book, but is more of a story book that allows students to color in the illustrations and is a great resource. The fact sheet gave a brief history of the Revolutionary War and a list of several sites on the web where students can go and explore more including archives, PBS, American Revolution Museum website, the C.I.A website.

Overall, I thought this was a fun way for my kids to be able to reenact and dig deeper into their study of the American Revolution. They had a blast pretending to be soldiers fighting for freedom and exchanging currency and coloring in the story book. I believe that it gave them more of an interest in the topic than they would have had otherwise. I would highly recommend this product for anyone wanting more hands-on play to go with your Revolutionary War unit.

Product review by Audrey Tolle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November, 2018