Beaty Boxes

Can’t come to the museum? Book one of our award-winning Beaty Boxes; outreach kits with touchable specimens, information about UBC research scientists, and hands-on activities that explore biodiversity. Our outreach kits provide you and your students with the opportunity to connect with the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s unique biological collections. All Beaty Boxes contain touchable specimens and other scientific objects to stimulate inquiry and discussion within the classroom, enhancing the student learning experience. Click here for a video on how to handle Beaty Box specimens.

Schools, community centres, libraries, home-learners, and other groups are encouraged to book a box and share it with other classes in the school or institutions in their immediate area. This can be a cost-effective way to share resources in the community.

Each Beaty Box is available for 14-day booking periods, including pick up and drop off dates. Please review the Policies & Procedures tab for information on reserving, picking up, and returning your box.

Note: Beaty Boxes are unavailable certain times of year when we perform repairs and maintenance. See the calendar below for our most up-to-date availability!

Reservations Required

To book a Beaty box, please fill out the booking request form.

All bookings must be completed via the appropriate online request form. Please note that the form is an online request only and is NOT a confirmed booking. You will receive an email invoice confirming your booking dates and an invoice outlining rental fees and deposit details.

Rental Period

Boxes are available in 14 calendar day rentail periods. For example, Tuesday the 9th through to Tuesday the 23rd. The 14-day rental  includes the pick-up and return dates. In the example above, you would pick the box up on the 9th and drop it off on the 23rd.

A box may be rented for more than one 14-day period at a time. For example, for 28 days. Depending on availaibility, an extension on the rental period may be available after you begin your rental, but we suggest indicating the full rental period on the booking request form.

Cost and Deposit

Rental fees are $75 for 14 days, and $50 for each additional and consecutive 14 calendar day period.

A $35 deposit per box is required to reserve the dates of the rental. The deposit must be paid within ten days of receipt of the invoice or five days before the start of the rental period, whichever comes first. This can be paid by cheque (payable to the University of British Columbia), credit, cash or debit in person at the Museum, credit over the phone, and JV for internal UBC departments. The deposit will be applied towards the rental fee. The balance is due when the box is picked up.

Picking Up and Returning Beaty Boxes

Beaty Boxes must be picked up and returned at the Museum's Admissions Desk during regular operating hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm. Please note we are closed on Mondays and Statutory Holidays. Hours & Directions

The person who books the box is responsible for the box’s return to the museum. If the person who is picking up or dropping off the box is not the person who booked the box, please fill out the pick-up/drop-off section of your contract, and send it to us via email or fax. The person picking up the box will need to have a photo ID that matches the information provided on the booking request so we can ensure the box goes to the right place.

Allow 15 minutes at the Museum to process the box upon pick-up and drop-off. Upon both times will review its contents to confirm that all items are accounted for and intact. We will repeat this process upon return of the box.

Boxes are fragile and must be transported with care. We suggest a car, taxi, or car-share vehicle. Please see details on this website for each box's dimension and weight: Forest, Inquiry, Whale Flipper X-Ray, Seashore, Marine Life. The Beaty Box fee does not include parking, transit, or other costs associated with pickup and drop-off.

A small cart is available to borrow from the Admissions Desk to transport the box to and from a car. The cart must be returned to the Museum right away.

You are responsible for protecting the Beaty Box and contents from excessive moisture and other agents of deterioration. If it is raining, please bring a large plastic garbage bag or towel to drape over the box to prevent moisture damage.

Shipping is not available at this time and the boxes cannot be picked up by couriers or mailed. The boxes must be held upright to prevent specimen damage and are not packed for the postal system. Boxes are available to use in Canada only at this time. They are not permitted to cross USA-CANADA or other international borders.

Before returning the Beaty Box, please check that all materials are included and carefully packed as per the manual and checklist. You are responsible for any lost or damaged items and may be charged a replacement fee for items that are lost or for extensive damage.

Beaty Boxes should be returned to the museum by 4:30 pm on the due date indicated on the invoice. There may be a late fee charged per day. Boxes returned before the due date will not receive any refund.

Changes & Cancellations

If you are unable to pick up or return your Beaty Box on the scheduled date, or if you decide to cancel your reservation, please inform the Beaty Admissions Desk. Cancellations or changes to your booking should be made at least two weeks (14 days) before the scheduled mail or pick-up date; changes are subject to availability. Cancellations or changes made less than two weeks before your rental dates will forfeit the $35 deposit.

For more information, call or email the Admissions Desk (604-827-4955).

To book a Beaty box, please fill out the booking request form. For more information call or email the Admissions desk: 604-827-4955

Thank you for borrowing a Beaty Box from the Beaty Biodiversity Museum! We appreciate your feedback. Please fill out the feedback form and don’t hesitate to let us know if you have additional comments at programs@beatymuseum.ubc.ca.

Request a Beaty Box

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Forest Box

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Inquiry Box

Focus on creating visual representations to record scientific observations with the Inquiry Box.

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Seashore Box

Learn all about interactions between organisms and their seashore environment and more with the Seashore Beaty Box.

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Marine Life Box

The theme for this Beaty Box is the interconnectedness of marine organisms and the impact of climate change.

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Whale Flipper X-Ray Box

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Online Beaty Box Programs

We offer two bookable online programs to complement a Beaty Box rental: Beaty Box Sketching and Beaty Box Adaptation Exploration.

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