About The Curiosity Box

The Curiosity Box is a quarterly subscription box of science toys, puzzles and objects, put together by the team behind the Vsauce channel and aimed squarely at adults.

What turns up four times a year

Each box gathers a set of custom-made items around a theme: physical puzzles, demonstration objects that show off a piece of physics or maths, a book, a t-shirt, stickers and collectibles. The pieces are made for the box rather than bought in, which is the difference between this and a box of things you could have ordered separately. Shipping runs quarterly, so the rhythm is four deliveries a year rather than something arriving monthly.

It is aimed at adults, and that is deliberate

Worth knowing before buying it for a ten-year-old: the box is pitched at curious adults, and the puzzles and reading are set at that level. Plenty of the objects are genuinely good with older children alongside a parent, but this is not a children's science kit and it is not sold as one — there is a separate partnership for families with younger children. If you are buying for a teenager who already reads around physics and maths, it lands well; for a primary-age child it will mostly sit in a drawer.

Two plans, and the maths between them

There is a rolling quarterly plan and an annual plan paid up front, and the annual works out lower per box and usually carries an extra item. The trade-off is the usual one: the annual commits you to a year. If you are testing whether you like it, take the quarterly for one box and switch later. Whichever you choose, note the renewal date, because a quarterly subscription is exactly the kind of thing that renews quietly. Cancellation is handled from the account area, and doing it a few days before a billing date rather than after is the difference between stopping and asking for a refund.

Buying it as a present without spoiling it

Because boxes ship on a quarterly schedule rather than on demand, a subscription started close to a birthday or Christmas may not arrive in time for the day itself, so check the current shipping window before ordering and be prepared to give a card. For an international order, check the delivery estimate and whether duty or import tax will be collected on arrival, since a subscription can generate that charge on every box rather than once. And the contents are announced after the fact, so do not promise a recipient anything specific.