I love it when things seem to fall all nicely into place, don’t you? Just as I was thinking about doing unit studies with the kids, a Mysteries In Time subscription box landed at our front door! Up first is Ancient Egypt and a whole box to keep the kids learning while having fun add being creative.
Sam from Mysteries in Time has partnered up with us to bring you this awesome review. When I first looked into the product she and Pete have created, I was enthusiastic to say the least, and I’m even more thrilled with it now that it’s arrived.
The Unboxing
Knowing that the children would be learning about Ancient Egypt, I had planned a trip to see the Ulster Museum in Belfast, but the day came earlier than planned so I held onto the box for a day before sneaking it into Belfast and after Tristan and Kallista explored the Egyptian area of the museum, and learned all about Takabuti and the mummification process, I brought out the Mysteries in Time box for them to open.
There couldn’t have been a better place for the unboxing (well, with the exception of more light for photo taking). The children were excited to compare their own canopic jar to the ones on display.
The Ancient Egypt box is the initial box in the monthly Mysteries in Time subscription.
Ancient Egypt Contains:
- A wall map and time line (only in the initial box)
- A sticker to place on the time line for this ‘trip’
- Additional stickers
- Two bookmarks: One generic MIT one, and anther Ancient Egypt one (a new one is in each box)
- A book, Max and Katie’s Egyptian Adventure
- A booklet with more facts and figures to learn
- A craft, in this case supplies to make an amulet
- Das Air-drying clay
- Paints in 8 colours
- A paintbrush
- Stickers to use as decoratons
- A canopic jar
- 3 Pictures to colour and hang on the wall
- Pencil crayons to use for the colouring
- A heiroglypics post card
- The time machine box itself can also be coloured!
I must say that I am very impressed with the quality of everything in the box. You won’t find any cheap plastic bits. Everything is high quality. You can tell that a lot of work and effort has gone into every piece.
The information booklet is very well-written and uses plain, straightforward language that doesn’t ‘talk down’ to children. It could have easily been written for teens or adults even, as I found myself learning new things!
How Did The Activities Work?
Tristan enjoyed reading Max and Katie’s Egyptian Adventure to the whole family over the course of about 3 evenings before bedtime. Because Tristan did more of the reading, Kallista did a little more of the colouring.
There are some additional activities in the back of the Ancient Egypt History and Facts booklet, but I’m not going to spoil them for you.
Great To Take On The Road
This box is perfect to take on the road, too! I packed up the craft and took it with us camping last week. I was hoping for a lovely day to spend down at the beach making amulets, but it was just too windy and wet when we weren’t out and about. However, it’s the perfect craft to do in the tent.
The clay air-dried overnight before we painted the amulets while waiting for dinner to cook. The booklet gives 3 sample amulets to make, but unfortunately, this mommy forgot to pack the booklet so we all made an Eye of Horus amulet from memory. Tristan had the best memory for his!
There was enough clay left over that everyone also made a pendant with a pyramid engraved on it, a bit like an hieroglyph.
We’re using this kit as a big part of a wider unit study that we’ll share with you later. It just so happened that this box was the inspiration to pull together little bits and pieces we have but on their own didn’t mean much, but pulled together within the frame of Mysteries In Time, it’s come together better than I’d have expected.
My Opinion
My enthusiasm to start some unit studies with the children has been re-ignited. This is what I want in our homeschool; inspiration, excitement to do further research and learning, an interest to go deeper into a topic. Well done and thank you, Sam and Pete!
The first Mysteries In Time boxes are hitting the post offices now – the perfect time for parents, childminders, and daycare centres to order up a couple of boxes or start a subscription. Your kids will be both entertained over the summer, as well as learning about history. Take the book, colouring pages, and craft along with you on a road trip or vacation. These items won’t take up much space, and will help make memories along the way.
Future mysteries will explore the Elizabethans, Wartime Britain and Ancient Greece.
If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Mysteries in Time, you can connect with them through their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
If you could travel back in time, where would you go, and why?
Disclaimer: This has been a sponsored post but all of the fun and learning has been ours. All opinions are ours. You can read more in our disclosure policy.
