⇣May box Sneak Peek⇣

We have a problem, and you might relate.

In our family, we find it challenging to balance screen & uninterrupted, focused, together-time in today's world. Even as the creators of this box, we still have days where we struggle. We came up with the idea of always having "Old School" items on hand to make it easier to unplug & engage together more often. 

In talking to friends and looking around in public places, we see that we're not alone in the "digital-divide" struggle. This is our inspiration for Together Unplugged. We hope to help other families with this challenge, as we believe there are few things in life more precious than family relationships. 

Regular screen-free family time is a game-changer! 

Picture this: your family is gathered around the dining table or on the living room floor. Everyone's devices are put away. The rings, dings, buzzes, and flashing lights are gone - replaced with eye contact, smiles, laughter, and celebration. Wonderful bonding occurs while you play, create, read, learn, goal-set, laugh, team-build and celebrate together. 

Would your family's relationships improve if this occurred more frequently in your home? Subscribe now to have this opportunity delivered to your doorstep each month. Our goal at Together Unplugged is to help you by simplifying the process and empowering your family to establish a more balanced digital/analog ratio in your home.

What comes in the boxes? 

Together Unplugged is much more than just a few games & activities!

Each month we carefully select & create items that will help your family play, create, read, learn, goal-set, laugh, team-build, and celebrate together - lots of fun ways to interact and connect!

See overview below, and find detailed descriptions on our REVIEWS & FAQ's PAGE.

BONUS TO FOSTER FAMILY EMPATHY & BONDING: Every new subscriber will receive immediate access to the digital Family Connection Map ($47 value)! This course will help your family experience less conflict, better communication, and more joy. Instant access is provided via an exclusive link in your new subscriber welcome email.

⇣Check Out Our Latest Unboxing & Review by Becca Peterson of My Subscription Addiction⇣

Together Unplugged Subscription Review – March 2020

by Becca Peterson on Mar 20, 2020 

Together Unplugged 

is a monthly subscription box designed with the whole family in mind. Each month you will receive 3-4 interactive games and loads of activities and reading material. This subscription is much more than a single-session box. They include activities and resources to help families play, create, read, learn, goal-set, laugh and celebrate together throughout the entire month all while establishing a healthy digital/analog balance in our homes.

This box is being reviewed by popular demand!

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The first item is a welcome note and a list of all the included items in this month’s box. I love everything about this content directory! Every main item is printed in blue and includes a summary about every included product. They even use symbols to indicate what skill you are using for each activity. I have found this very helpful to make sure I have utilized this box in every possible way!

Each month we receive a calendar with unique, fun, and festive reasons to celebrate in March! I love the fun clip art and all of the non-traditional holidays they include. We have found this to be uplifting and entertaining! The opposite side gives us a small summary of each holiday, and even gives ideas on how to celebrate it! Because our state just announced our schools will be closing until at least March 27, we will definitely be celebrating all of these days as a way to pep up during a very concerning situation! I’m really looking forward to “Let’s Laugh Day” on March 19, as well as “Goof Off Day” which will be celebrated on March 22!

Did you know Harriet Tubman Day is on March 10th? I did not, but was very excited to have received this easy to read informational sheet to learn all about Harriet Tubman! My first grader is really interested in history, so he was very curious to know who Harriet Tubman was and what she was best known for. Both of my kids sat wide-eyed as we read about how Harriet escaped slavery and joined the Underground Railroad as a conductor helping around 300 slaves to escape. They also were absolutely shocked to find out that slave owners offered a $40,000 reward for her capture! Because my kids and I are curious, we googled how big that amount would be today, and with inflation it would have been $1.3 million! To see if my kids were really paying attention, I gave them each a little quiz a few days later, and they remembered all of the details from this lesson! Harriet Tubman was an amazing woman and an inspiration for all! On the opposing side, we received information on “Medal of Honor Day.” This also piqued my son’s interest, and we enjoyed learning that the most recent person to receive it was Leslie H. Sabo Jr. in 2012.

Goal Sheet

While being simple, I really enjoy the Family Goal sheet that is included each month in this box. On this sheet, you sit down as a family and talk about goals. In our busy everyday lives, I don’t think anyone gets to sit and talk nearly enough, so it’s been fun to talk and discuss what a goal actually is. Our family goal for March is to deep clean our home! Not an extremely fun goal, but definitely a necessary one! Our individual goals were pretty interesting as well…Charlie’s goal is to eat more carrots, and Hank wants to exercise more! I love how this subscription has gotten us talking as a family about goals and plans – it has been really fun hearing my kids’ take on the topic!

Expressions of Gratitude Sheet

On the other side of the goal sheet, we received a gratitude sheet. This sheet is broken down into weeks, and has different questions to answer for each week. This exercise is to have you reflect on your thoughts and helps us implement gratitude into our daily lives. It was really fun to hear everyone’s answers to these questions, and in a panic-stricken world, it was nice to shut out the hysteria and focus on the positive with my family. In case you were wondering, Charlie’s favorite song right now is the hokey pokey, and Hank’s favorite way to exercise is by doing the downward dog yoga pose!

Family Activity Pack

Here we have the family activity pack. I always look forward to this pack as it always contains fun jokes, riddles, puzzles, and more! I usually save these for car rides, but since we are momentarily homebound, we all snuggled up on the couch and went through the jokes and “Would you Rather’s!” Both Hank and Charlie eagerly agreed they would rather have porcupine powers rather than skunk powers! It was also a lot of fun stumping my husband with the March trivia! He always beats me at the riddles, so it was nice to outdo him for once!

S.T.E.A.M Craft: Balloon-Powered Car

The STEAM craft this month was a balloon-powered car! We love balloons, so we were really excited to create a car using one. For this craft, we received cardboard, paper straws, skewers, bottle caps, and a balloon. The only materials we needed from home were a pair of scissors, tape, and a ruler. Like always, the directions were easy to follow, and even included photos of each step. We really enjoyed the fact that this activity was easy enough so that the kids could do some of the steps on their own, but at the same time, a challenge so that we could all work on it together. It was really fun to see our balloon-powered car drive, and my kids learned a lot during the process. Not only do they give us the materials and directions for this project, but they take it one step further and include ways to extend the activity. We will definitely be using these ideas in the coming weeks to keep us busy during our mandatory school break!1 of 22 of 21 of 22 of 2

Minute-to-Win-It Challenge Sheet

Another aspect of Together Unplugged we look forward to each month is this fun sheet of Minute-to-Win-It games! This challenge gives us 5 different games that use the included balloons and a stopwatch. I love how they go above and beyond and even give us instruction on different levels of play! We had a blast pretending to be the Big Bad Wolf, and “Huff and Puff and Blow the Cups Down!” These will definitely be played more in the coming weeks!1 of 42 of 43 of 44 of 4

Family Team Building Activity

Our family team building activity this month began with the story “The Four Oxen and the Lion.” This story really resonated with my boys and they loved discussing the fact that life throws us many challenges and that overcoming these challenges is a whole lot easier when we work as a team and are there for each other. Once the story was over, we were instructed to move onto an interactive experience that brings the moral of the included story to life using the “Together We Can!” sign, string, a yardstick, and tape. Each person receives a piece of string, and I explained that the stick, string, and sign represent family togetherness. Once we tied our strings onto the yardstick, we sat in a circle, and one by one we tried to stand the yardstick up by ourselves. When we discovered this wasn’t going to work, we all pulled on our strings to hold the stick upright. While we were doing this we followed the prompts on the card and discussed our family unity, and how we are part of a team. It was a really great object lesson, and is one that I think my kids will remember forever! On the opposite side we received a worksheet to fill out after we finished the activity. We learned that we are all in it together, and that we have to work as one to make things happen!1 of 22 of 21 of 22 of 2

10 Arizona Red Gaillardia Seeds

We are huge into gardening as a family, so anytime we receive seeds in the mail we are stoked. This month we received 10 Arizona Red Gaillardia seeds, and planted them in a pot especially for “Plant a Flower Day” that was celebrated on March 12th. These red and yellow perennials love full sun, and can grow in zones 3-9! The little baggie suggested having each family member plant a seed or two, and give them fun names. Seen here are Franky, Spike, Mildred, Foxy, Lassy, Smith, Viola, Samson, Blue, and Vernon. I just can’t wait for these little guys to sprout!

Orville Redenbacher Popcorn

A couple of months ago there was mention of including a bag of popcorn every month, and I am very happy they followed through! Our family loves popcorn and having a snack to eat while playing games and reading jokes just seems to go hand in hand!1 of 22 of 2

Trash Pandas Game – Retail Value $11.99

When Charlie saw this game he literally squealed with delight! Raccoons are Charlie’s favorite animal (he was one for Halloween last year) and he is obsessed with anything that has a raccoon on it. (Seriously, I had to accidentally misplace his raccoon shirt because it’s all he would wear!) Anyways, this game is for 2-4 players ages 8 and up. Charlie just turned 5, so this was a little bit confusing for him. After reading the instructions it was actually a little confusing for me as well. Honestly, I had to look up how to play on YouTube! Once I watched the video it was smooth sailing, just kind of a lot to remember! Hank had a much easier time with this game, and it has quickly become one of our favorites. It’s a game of chance, so you roll the die and take the coordinating token, which you then have the option of redeeming or taking a chance and rolling again. If you roll the same symbol, you have to put your token back, draw a card, and your turn is over. The player with the most points in their stash at the end wins. I like the fact that this is a fast game, and we found the cartoons on the cards to be hilarious!

Cat Crimes Logic Game – Retail Value $12.99

I love cats and I love games, so this particular item was a win for me right out of the box! This logic game features 6 cardboard cats that are kind of up to no good. Included are 40 challenge cards that vary in difficulty and you have to solve the mysteries! This game is a single-player game, but can be done as a family. Charlie had a great time figuring out the beginner cards, but started getting stumped by the 4th crime. My husband and I tried solving number 38 (expert), and our brains seriously hurt! I love the critical thinking aspect of this game, and the fact that it can be played alone or as a team. I also found it to be a great tool for the boys to learn positional words and see them in action!

Highlights Magazine March 2020 – Get a year subscription here for $39.96

Another item we look forward to each month is the current Highlights magazine. My grandma bought me a subscription to this magazine as a child, and it is so much fun to watch my kids enjoy it as much as I did. Like this box, the Highlights magazine is well organized and contains so much fun content. Charlie really enjoyed the comics, while Hank found the “Boomerang Pro” article very interesting. I’m thinking tomorrow we might just have to whip up a couple of pompom puppets found on page 24!1 of 82 of 83 of 84 of 85 of 86 of 87 of 88 of 81 of 92 of 93 of 94 of 95 of 96 of 97 of 98 of 99 of 9

Papertoy Monsters Book – Retail Value $18.95 (on sale for $17.06)

Elmer’s School Glue – Retail Value $0.95

Here we have the item Hank was most excited about this month. Check out this thick book of paper toys! There are 50 cool paper toys that you can make yourself. Organized by types of monsters, there is a fun content list, a picture of all of the included monsters, and an introduction to the book. The first part of the book includes the easy to read instructions with a detailed summary all about the featured monster. Icy Huggy was the first monster in the book, so we decided it was a good place to start. We discovered he lives in the Himalayas, is a very fast runner, and if you offer him an apple, he will be your friend for life. My kids took this very seriously, and each morning I find an apple sitting by him on his shelf… To build Icy Huggy, we had to find his pattern in the back of the book, carefully pop out the templates, and glue the tabs to the coordinating spot. There were quite a few tabs to glue, but it was fairly easy. I did notice that while we received liquid glue, the instructions stated that a glue stick would be easiest to use. Icy Huggy probably took me 10 minutes to create, and has been enjoyed for days! “The Blob” has been requested next!

Certificate of Recognition

Last but not least, we have the Certificate of Recognition. This certificate shows that in March 2020 we were a family that was focused on making time for us. My kids feel proud when they get to have this award at the end of the month.

Verdict:  Together Unplugged boxes center on quality family time and fun, and during the concerning situation our world is facing, it has really brought our focus to the positives of life. The curation of this box is top-notch. I find the mix of physical items and original content to be a great balance that ties together perfectly. Again, I received 2 games that even as a game hoarder, do not own, and they were thoroughly enjoyed by all. This month, I felt that by talking about goals and completing the family team-building challenge, we really grew together as a family, and became more conscious of how we are important not only as individuals but as a unit as well. When I calculated this month’s retail value, I found most of the physical items for about $44.88, which is about $3.07 less than the cost of the box. That being said, I didn’t add in the popcorn, garden seeds, cups, balloons, straws, skewers, or original content into that value, PLUS if I were to purchase each of those items separately, I know my total cost would be significantly increased due to shipping charges, so I can honestly say “This. Box. Is. Worth. It!” Together Unplugged is truly a subscription that lasts the entire month. I can’t wait to see what April has in store!