History Unboxed is an educational subscription for children ages 5-15 that provides a monthly adventure into a different historical epoch each month. My ten-year-old son is a huge history buff, so I had to sign him up as soon as I learned about it! History Unboxed let us know this box arrived to me later than normal due to moving to a new Fulfillment Center.
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: History Unboxed
The Cost: $29.97 per month + $7 shipping = $36.97 per month
COUPON: Use code MYSA294 to save 50% off your first box when you sign your first child up for a regular subscription!
The Products: Recipes, crafts, art, myths, and relatable details of a different time and place in history every month
Ships to: US only at this time
Good to know: History Unboxed has two different subscription levels, one for children ages 5-9 and one for children ages 10-15. This review is the 10-15 age range.
Check out all our History Unboxed reviews and the Kids Subscription Box Directory for more educational boxes!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
This month's package is all about ancient Sumeria! This is our letter from Ava, and on the right is our coloring page. Coloring is not really big amongst ten-year-olds, but my son is diligently coloring these and adding them to his binder from the welcome box.
History Unboxed has changed their printed material, combining further learning, stories, and instructions and background for the activities into one slick booklet. I like that! The second picture gives you some idea of what the activity instructions look like, and the third photo has some sample informational pages.
This month, History Unboxed sent a copy of one of the oldest stories in recorded history, The Descent of Inana. I read it to the kids. They liked it, and it helped them to understand more about the ancient Sumerian culture. What I liked about it was that it gave me an opportunity to teach the kids about the oral tradition. It's true that this story was written at some point, but as we know, most of the time legends like this one were passed through the generations orally. You can hear the oral tradition in this story because, like most important stories from pre-history, it's highly repetitive.
This month's package included two projects. The first project involved impressing cuneiform symbols into cookies! It sounded kind of fun, but we didn't do it because my summer goal is to get the kids off sugar. We will wind up doing something else with the supplies, though, pictured here. The wooden piece on the right goes with the next project, but I didn't know it at the time.
Our second project was to create a crest using a stamp, a sponge, and some q-tips, all pictured here. The idea was to mimic some of the techniques for decorating that the Sumerians used.
The crest turned out great, but we had some issues. The stamp didn't work out very well; it involved heating the foam on an iron and imprinting one of my son's belongings into it. He used a wooden letter he had in his room. I overheated the iron so the foam got too warped and our stamp didn't function very well. But we triaged it and the rest of the technique (stippling color with q-tips) worked out just fine.
Verdict: I think History Unboxed is a wonderful way of learning about history at a reasonable price. I think this would be a great subscription for children who are home schooled! It's also fabulous supplemental material for kids like mine who go to school. On their website, History Unboxed talks about helping kids make an emotional connection to the different time periods. I think that by doing what people in those periods did and eating what they ate, this subscription helps children do exactly that. I love that my sons like to spend time outside of school learning, and I love to facilitate that learning.
What do you think of History Unboxed?
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