One would think that websites and blogs with their free for all and universal access are forcing traditional magazines to shut shop. But a look at the newsstand at the corner belies this belief. The doomsday for magazines is still distant.
That’s a relief because many of us started our world exploration with children’s magazines that introduced us to many of our sports and pop heroes. Not to mention, it did wonders for general knowledge.
Children’s magazines like their adult counterparts also have accompanying websites. A visitor who drops by won’t be able to distinguish between an online magazine and a website (or blog). Most of the online versions of the children’s magazines also publish the same content; partly if not all.
The online face of a children’s magazine might include interactive graphical content that’s not possible in print. So, it really helps if you can go over to the online magazine while flipping the pages of a printed one.
What’s your favorite online magazine for kids? Here are five that are worth a look and a read.
National Geographic Kids
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Parents, students, and teachers can take the help of this quality resource to learn about people, places, science, space, history, nature, and assorted fun activities. The children’s online magazine targets them in the age group of 8-14. Interactive content includes videos, games, photos, blogs, etc. This is one online magazine that parents and teachers will always recommend without hesitation.
TIME For Kids
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TIME magazine for adults might be too serious a read. The version for kids isn’t but it does go deep with a lot of educational content and teaching resources that’s helpfully arranged around grades. The weekly classroom news magazine covers world affairs and aims to develop the reading and analyzing habit in kids. It’s not somber stuff as you can see what Harry Potter is doing in New York or download quizzes, worksheets and other learning resources
Sports Illustrated for Kids
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Reading up on sports is why most kids gravitate to magazines around the world. There’s something about those glossy images and center-spread posters. SIKids.com is updated daily with news, games, and interactive features. Not only photos, as an online magazine for kids, you get sports videos also. What’s cooler is the entire section titled – Build. Here you can make some of your dreams come true virtually, like design your own car or have a NBA matchup.
Discover Girls
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Pre-teen girls need all the advice they can get on friendship and lifestyle. Discovery Girls covers it with advice, tips, little quizzes, There’s a regular section on Health & Beauty, a blog, and an advice section. There’s also fun stuff with downloads, giveaways, games, quizzes, and contests.
Weekly Reader
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An offline and online magazine for elementary school students that features a lot of educational tools for teachers and students alike. The About Us page of the site that’s Weekly Reader is one of the oldest classroom magazines in the United States and its complete range of magazines are arranged around grades from Pre-K to grade 12. The online version also reflects some of the content (and more) that can be found in the print publication. You have news, articles, and downloadable classroom kits. Lot of the tools are interactive and based around nicely designed stories that makes learning fun. Some sections are open to only subscribers tough.
Highlights
Highlights.com brings out magazines for kids of ages 2-12. The publication group’s credo is to help children become their best selves. The online homepage of the magazine is more for merchandizing but it also gives you further websites to explore like Puzzlemaniakids.com andHighlightskids.com. Play free online puzzles, solve riddles, go creative with fun activities, and even learn a little about nature and science at these two sites. For instance, you can go into a story adventure (Goofus and Gallant) or create your own stories at The Timbertoes.Highlightsparents.com is another site for parents and parenting tips that worth a browse.
Popular Science
One of the most ‘popular’ websites on science and invention doesn’t have a separate website dedicated to kids, but you can get to the articles that are tagged for the younger lot. And you can also search 138 years of Popular Science by using keywords like kids or children. It’s not as in-your-face as the other kids only magazine websites, but the sheer richness of the content is worth a hard search.
The online versions of children’s magazines may not be as rich in content as the real world versions, but they do bring a greater degree of interactivity. Also, you can easily get an idea of the content of past and present issues and use the hint to go and buy the printed magazine if you think your kid could do with it. More importantly, online children’s magazine gives you another valuable kid’s resource to mine for learning and fun.
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