Magazines for children

[NoraC]

My mom was asking about gift ideas for my children (ages 4, 5 and 7) and I was thinking about a magazine subscription. We are familiar with Chirp, Chickadee and National Geographic for Kids (but not sure what age that one's for). Any other that you like?

Thanks!

[homefrontgirl]

Click is fun. Is the 7-year-old a girl? New Moon for Girls is great!

[Minarai]

When I was a kid, I had a subscription to Highlights.
You might want to look into it.

[beanma]

What does your child like? For ildlife/nature I'd actually avoid Natl Geo Kids. It's chockfull of ads (boo!). The national wildlife federation has some great nature mags, though with no ads, Your Big Backyard (3-6) and Ranger Rick (6-9). Click is published by Carus publishing who have a stable of really top-notch kids mags. Click is also sciency. If you go to www.cricketmag.com you can see all the others. My kids have loved Ladybug and Spider. They're both mainly full of fiction and poetry with a few activities. Really wonderful and no ads. They also publish a history mag and several others. Great stuff.

For your age range I'd think about Ladybug or Ranger Rick. Spider might be a little too much for the youngest. You can probably check them out at your local library. I know ours has copies. See which one you like.

hth

[Think of Winter]

I agree with beanma re. Nat'l Geo for Kids. We received a subsc. as a gift, and I can't stand it. Full of ads and stories about tv and videos games, and negative language (our last issue has an article about "Stupid Criminals" or something like that).

We love Big Backyard and anything by Cricket. We've gotten Ladybug and Baby Bug for years. I'd highly recommend anything they publish based on those 2. Great stories and illustrations, and no ads. My kids are old enough for the next magazine, but they won't give up Baby Bug. We keep these until they fall apart.

[*bejeweled*]

Highlights!

[MadiMamacita]

Originally Posted by homefrontgirl

Is the 7-year-old a girl? New Moon for Girls is great!

that was my suggestion!

and i second highlights.

[VeezieTG]

my almost 4 yo has a sub to turtle. i want to say that there are no ads for stuff. there are some really good getting-ready-to-read things, games, stories, craft and recipe ideas... thats the first in a line of age-appropriate magazines. turtle is geared toward ages 3-5. the others for the older kids are humpty dumpty (5-7) and jack & jill (8-12). i can't vouch for them tho because i only get turtle now. and i have to say that when it comes in the mail, julien is always totally excited and we re-read every single page all the way til the next issue comes. he really loves it.

[meco]

Some my kid enjoys or other kids I know have:

Ask
Time for Kids
Brain, Child
National Geographic Kids
Your Big Backyard
Highlights
Cricket
Kid's Discover
Spider
Click

[insahmniak]

Originally Posted by Think of Winter

I agree with beanma re. Nat'l Geo for Kids. We received a subsc. as a gift, and I can't stand it. Full of ads and stories about tv and videos games, and negative language (our last issue has an article about "Stupid Criminals" or something like that).

Same here. We actually got in touch with NatGeo for Kids and let them know how disappointed we were. They canceled the gift subscription and sent us a check. You might try giving them some feedback. We were terribly disappointed.

My daughter loves finding the Ranger Rick and Click magazines in the mail. And her parents appreciat that they are much less commercial.

[NoraC]

Thanks all for the suggestions! I will check them out and chat with my mom!

[aprons_and_acorns]

High Five is a junior version of Highlights, geared toward kids ages 3-6. We have a subscription and it is just plain old AWESOME. It has a lot of fun ideas, recipes, stories, poems, and always has a pull-out activity in the back like a book to make or a card game. We love it.

BTW, it is ad-free and doesn't feature any kind of merchandised characters or anything. (Says the lady who just spent $20+ on Princess and the Frog stuff on the way home from the movies )