Flash to the Past (by My Explorations) is a monthly subscription box that takes your child on an epic adventure through history — exploring ancient civilizations, discovering fascinating people, and witnessing monumental events.
Every month your child will get to join Simon and Raven on a time-traveling adventure back to the past, where they will explore ancient civilizations and learn about amazing historic events. The subscription starts with Month 1 and continues sequentially through Month 24.
Disclosure: I received this box for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate and/or referral links.
Month 1 is an introduction to the program that includes a metal lunch box, world map poster, and Taste It! collection cover & ring that will be used throughout the program. Each month builds upon learning from the previous months. With subsequent months, puzzles and ciphers on the activity pages become increasingly challenging. The program is designed especially for children age 6-12.
At completion of the Flash to the Past program, your child’s collection will include:
- 23 sets of magnet costumes & set of magnet characters that stick to the metal lunchbox
- 23 stickers that stick to the world map poster
- 23 Taste It! Recipe cards in a flip-pack
- Dozens of souvenir crafts, projects, and games
Subscriptions are $11.95/month or less with multi-month commitments. — For a limited time, you can save 20% on any 6 or 12-month subscription with coupon code “ROSE20“!
Let’s check out Flash to the Past Months 1 & 2!
Everything was shipped in a plain brown box with a Flash to the Past sticker on top.
A peek inside! — The envelope on top is actually for Month 2, which I’ll get to later in this post.
Month 1:
The photo above shows everything you’ll receive in your first (Month 1) shipment.
All of the materials were tucked into a fun time machine themed metal lunchbox. — Your child will receive a different magnet in each of the following months, which they will be able to place on the lunchbox to display their collection.
A printed letter from Simon and Raven welcomed your child to Flash to the Past and let them know they can expect to receive each month.
A few activity sheets will be included in each shipment. The first sheet had your child using a special code to find out the meanings of underlined words used to describe Flash to the Past.
Decoding!
The second activity sheet include a word puzzle that helped to reveal four things that people in a civilization share.
A third sheet featured an ancient civilization themed crossword puzzle.
The final activity sheet included information about timelines and how they’re used.
A large world map poster will be used throughout the program. Each month your child will receive new stickers to place on specific parts of it.
Month 1 included a Taste It! collection card cover and ring that will hold all of the recipes provided in future shipments.
Every month you’ll receive a new magnet costume for the magnet versions of Simon and Raven above. The first month comes with them dressed in today’s clothes, while the costumes will all be based on the theme of that particular shipment. (You’ll see what I mean later in the post.)
Sticking the magnet friends onto the lunchbox.
Onto Month 2!
All of the materials for the second month were tucked into a plastic bubble mailer.
The photo above shows everything inside of the Month 2 shipment.
Once again, we received a few activity sheets that went along with the theme. — This month focused on Ancient Egypt.
This sheet highlighted the type of clothing and accessories worn by the ancient Egyptians.
Wealthy ancient Egyptians decorated their clothing and jewelry with…. Gemstones.
Ancient Egyptians grew crops along the Nile River, which also provided additional sources of food as shown on the sheet above.
Learning about the Egyptian diet.
This activity sheet provided a basic lesson on hieroglyphics and had your child writing their own name using symbols.
The final sheet included information on the Egyptian’s belief in the afterlife and various superstitions.
Finding her way through the pyramid maze.
A pyramid sticker was provided for adhering to the corresponding spot on our world map poster from Month 1.
Our time travel plan sheet helped us find the exact location for the sticker.
As promised, Month 2 came with a collectible Taste It! card for us to attach to our ring from Month 1. It featured a recipe for ancient Egyptian sweets!
We also received the costume magnets to place on Simon & Raven, which of course were Egyptian themed.
Getting Raven “dressed”.
Tucked into its own bag were a collection of ancient Egyptian themed crafts.
Full step-by-step instructions were included for each craft project.
Jeweled Collar
The first craft involved making a jeweled collar with the provided collar pieces, ribbon, and stick-on jewels.
Both girls worked on it at the same time, with each of them decorating their own half of the collar. They’re obsessed with Shimmer & Shine (as you can see from the wrist cuffs), so they just HAD to stick one of the jewels on their forehead to mimic their favorite genies. 😉
All done!
Arm Band
To make this snake arm band, you were to simply cut along the dotted lines until you got to the end. (We couldn’t really figure out how to properly wrap it around our arm, so there are no photos of the completed craft.)
Papyrus Cartouche
I remember learning about cartouches in a college Art History course that I loathed and I can’t read the word without hearing my instructor’s voice pronouncing it in her thick German accent. Anyway… For this project, your child was to write out their name in symbols like the ancient Egyptians.
The girls weren’t too keen on drawing the symbols, so I just let them do their own thing. 😉
Though not quite historically accurate, it turned out pretty cute.
Shrink Art Amulet
The final activity was a neat shrink art craft. Your child was to neatly cut out each of the Egyptian images and a grownup would then bake them in the oven to turn them into plastic charms.
Cut, cut, cut.
The completed charms! We were missing one of the metal clips, but no biggie.
With a format very similar to Space Scouts (their other subscription offering reviewed here), Flash to the Past provided a great way to learn about history while having fun in the process. My girls especially enjoyed all of the neat crafts. At $11.95 (or less), it’s also one of the more affordable children’s subscription boxes out there! 🙂 — Remember, for a limited time, you can save 20% on any 6 or 12-month subscription with coupon code “ROSE20“!
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