Cricket Magazine Group?

[jamie79]

Does anybody subscribe to the Spider or Ladybug magazines? They are supposed to be pretty good, but look kind of pricey. There are also a plethora of different magazines to choose from on their website. So, I just wondered if anyone here had any input on these magazines? My kids love magazines, especially my son. It is *fun* for him to read them and he gets in a lot of learning from them...

TIA,

Jamie

[canuckgal]

I used to but...

...you are right, they are very pricey. And in Canada you have to add 12.00 per year to subsciption for the price. : However, they are very beautiful. We have all our back issues still. I liked how they had a cut out activity in the back cover of every issue, thinks like a small game of tic tac toe using african masks as game peices and being allowed to move your piece. The drawings are nice too, and my kids really enjoyed the comics in them. I a really irked that they are so expensive however. Mags like Chirp and Chikadee and National Geographic Kids look sort of tacky/trashy next to them.

[tankgirl73]

When I called them to renew and make some changes to DS's subscriptions, they actually offered me a whole bunch of deals, including IIRC waiving the $12 extra fee for Canadians. So it might be worth phoning (wherever you live) and chatting with a live person rather than ordering over the internet (like I did at first). They were very friendly and helpful.

DS has subscribed to Cricket and Muse and we get a gift subscription to Spider for his cousin. DS has recently decided he's not that into Cricket anymore, so we've replaced it with Dig and we've added another one as well... But now I forget which one lol...

It is a bit daunting since there are so many. BUT they will happily switch magazines mid-subscriptions. So if you try one for a few months and it doesn't "fit", you can change it for a different one for the rest of the subscription.

[Wilhemina]

Right now we get Ask, but at other times we have taken Ladybug and Spider. All were/are excellent and well read and appreciated. Like PPs said, a far cry from some other kid magazines around.

[OTMomma]

I really love their magazines because there are no advertisements in them- the others we've looked at were more advertisements than articles. We got Ladybug and Click for a few years, and now we get Spider and Ask for dd, and ds is getting Babybug. I have switched magazines mid-subscription with them, it was super easy. I really don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

[Kleine Hexe]

We've been getting Ladybug and like it. I think I might pick another from that company.

We also get Ranger Rick and My Big Backyard. Both are ad free and pretty nice.


A sub to magazines is a great gift from relatives....drop them a hint.

[rbeaufoy]

We get Ladybug and LOVE it! The illustrations are sooooo beautiful and NO ads makes it an even better read. Like another poster said, we too keep all the back issues. My kids enjoy flipping through them on their own, and we often use the illustrations to spark our own creative story writing.....I've also imagined the pictures would be a great addition to collage type projects.

My parents buy it for my kids as a gift every year....certainly keeps the cost down for me

-R