A very exciting-looking box masquerading as a time machine arrived for us from Mysteries in Time. This particular one was all about Ancient Egypt and is the first in a series of history subscription boxes aimed at children aged 7-11.
The idea
Characters Max and Katie take children on an immersive journey through history via the included adventure story and magazine in each box. In the story you join them as they try to solve a mystery concerning the era the time machine has taken them to.
What’s included:
Classic pack
- Mystery/adventure story
- Glossy history magazine full of interesting facts, puzzles and activities (including colouring sheets)
- Egyptian bookmark Hieroglyph chart
- Themed sticker sheet
- Timeline sticker
- Lovely, large world map with timeline (this comes in the first box)
Bumper box
All of the above plus crafting materials and a history-related gift.
Mysteries in Time – History Subscription Boxes
Wonderfully presented and full of intriguing and colourful items, my children (aged 8-11) couldn’t wait to get started. The box is packed and everything looked very good quality. Our surprise gift was an Egyptian-themed pen or Nefertiti as they later discovered. Our crafting materials were modelling clay (with gem stickers), which went down very well.
We began by unfolding the world map, which was delightfully large and glossy, and finding Egypt. This led to lots of discussion about the relative sizes of different countries (much surprise about how tiny the UK is). Next we added our timeline sticker to the bottom. You add another sticker each month so you get to see different historical periods in context.
We shared the story together over the course of a few nights at bedtime and they really couldn’t get enough. I initially thought my eldest daughter might be a bit old for it, but she thoroughly enjoyed it too and actually took over the reading.
They loved being historian detectives and finding out lots of interesting facts and details in the narrative; it really brought history to life in a fun way. They were so engaged that we’d refer to the magazine the next day to find out more about things that we’d read about in the story.
The magazine is very informative and covers a surprising amount of ground in a succinct, enjoyable and easily digestible way. You can dip into it whenever you want, which is exactly what we’ve been doing. They even used Mysteries in Time for a homeschooling project!
My younger two really enjoyed the colouring activities and we all loved the quizzes and decoding the hieroglyphics. The crafting materials are a great extra with the air-drying modelling clay (with gem stickers for decorating) being very well received. One Egyptian-style amulet was made following one of the included suggestions. However, they did go a bit off piste with their modelling 😁
The final verdict
The children enjoyed the whole concept from start to finish. They got a lot out of it both in terms of fun and education. I thought it was a brilliantly cohesive, engaging and enjoyable way to learn; like with all the best educational tools, they didn’t realise they were being taught. It was also a great antidote to learning via a screen or worksheet. It’s a resource we’ll be able to go back to time and time again.
My one teeny, tiny complaint about the whole box is that the it would have been better to have blue clay as opposed to green (as yellow was also included).
Decoding hieroglyphs for a puzzle 
The details
The other subscription boxes in the series are: Elizabethan Era, Evacuees in WW2, Ancient Greece, Wild West, Aztecs, Ancient Rome, Victorians, Vikings, Ancient China, Space history and Stuarts.
The classic box is £6.45 per month plus postage and the bumper box is £11.45 plus postage. https://www.mysteriesintime.co.uk/subscribe/ Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.
We were sent a free ‘Mysteries in Time’ bumper subscription box in return for an unbiased review.
