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!
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.
Also Good to Know: This box usually arrives after the month has passed. It's not a big deal to me, but I know some people don't like that.
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 Egypt! 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, plus a sample information page.
This month, History Unboxed sent a poster showing the family tree of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. It came kind of rolled and kinked up, so please excuse the various objects holding it down in the corners. In addition to being educational and very clear, this poster is also pretty funny! We liked this a lot.
This papyrus was also included this month, with a bust of Nefirtiti printed on it. When I took this picture, I didn't realize it was an activity, and it also arrived pretty rolled and kinked up. If you look at the box in the very first picture on this review, you can see that the box arrived in pretty rough shape, so I'm not 100% sure what happened. Anyway, the activity was to paint this papyrus, but it didn't include a paint brush. This is not such a big deal since we have millions of them at my house, but the little set of paints they included made my sons not want to do this activity. The paints they included were a set of four, and the colors were black, blue, yellow, and peach. All the black needed is already printed on the papyrus, and there's no red in the palette, and this is a pretty uninspired palette in general. So, the kids are just leaving it as-is. I don't blame them.
This picture shows all of the supplies required for the second activity, creating a sun dial. Keep in mind, however, that I don't always know what I'm photographing when I take pictures, so I apologize, but there are a few things going on here. In the middle of the picture you can see the paint palette I was describing above. On the upper right is the sticker for this month. Below that is a really cool bookmark with the heiroglyphic alphabet on it.
This is my ten-year-old son's completed sun dial. The best thing about this was that he learned how to use a protractor! Using the hole as a guide, he drew a straight line across the bottom to represent 6 am and 6 pm, and then he drew lines at 15 degree increments for every hour in between. The idea then was to put the dowel in the hole, and then go outside at noon and line the dowel's shadow up so that it was cast straight up at noon. Unfortunately, the dowel doesn't fit in the hole. Not even sort of.
Verdict: We were enjoying our History Unboxed subscription pretty well until this month. The educational value is still there, definitely, but neither activity this month worked out. When an activity works, it's easy to overlook things like a crushed box or lackluster supplies, but when it doesn't, those things tend to stand out. As a parent, I get kind of irritated when a product actually causes my child to lose interest in an educational experience. We will see what the June box holds when we receive it. Hopefully it will be a lot better.
What do you think of History Unboxed?
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