Warren sent us an e-mail: My son loves getting mail. Even though he's 4, he gets so excited whenever he gets anything.
My wife and I thought it be fun for him to get his own magazine subscription in the mail. He's still a little too young for Highlights, and while we like Babybug and Ladybug magazine, there's just no way we're going to spend $35 on a subscription. Do you have anything else you can recommend that's fun and affordable?"
Good question, Warren.
There are actually several toddler and preschooler magazine choices out there. When there's a niche, someone will fill it, right?
Apart from Ladybug and Babybug, there's Your Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby both published by the National Wildlife Federation. Highlights also offers High Five which is aimed at younger children.
Our son receives National Geographic Little Kids, and he really enjoys it. The magazine is just the right size for preschool hands, has a ton of pictures and illustrations and like the grown-up version of National Geographic, Little Kids exposes preschoolers to the world around them. And we love that our subscription was only $15.
What about you? Is there a hidden gem out there you'd like to recommend to Warren?
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
Wild Animal Baby is expensive, but of heavy card stock...almost like a board book. We've saved each issue and they've lasted through two kids. They will autmomatically upgrade you to My Big Backyard and then Ranger Rick as your child gets older.
view avimom's profile
My daughter loves Turtle magazine. The subscription is about $16.00, but it is a bi-monthly magazine, so there is a bit of a wait between issues.
view nicmariemc's profile
My daughter (5 now) gets National Geographic Little Kid and it's the only magazine that she actually is excited to see and goes through the whole thing reliably. It has neat projects in the back and great photography.
She also gets Preschool Playroom, which is OK but pretty advertisery. She used to get the Thomas magazine. Which is similar in nature to Preschool Playroom (a little workbooky in format) These two are thanks to the middle school PTA magazine sale fundraiser from the oldest kid.
view CathyN's profile
They still have My Big Backyard?!? I loved that when I was little!
view inkstainedwriter's profile
There are three great Canadian mags:
Chirp (ages 3-6)
Chickadee (ages 6-10)
Owl (ages 10 )
https://secure.indas.on.ca/bayard/
I remember my parents getting my brother and i a subscription to Owl and Chickadee Magazines. Certainly a high point in the day getting mail! Made us feel pretty important. :)
view foog's profile
We can borrow a lot of these magazines from our library.
If it is just a matter of getting something, tell him the toys-r-us catalogs are for him and let him go to town :)
view Kaz's profile
I actually have very vivid memories of reading My Big Backyard and graduating on to Ranger Rick. Great animal pictures, which all (most) kids love.
view fancyd's profile
We get My Big Backyard and Turtle (both gifts) and my daughter loves both of them. We used to get Preschool Playroom (again, a gift) and it was just ok. As another poster said, lots of ads for character toys that we'd rather not buy. My good friend gets Nick Jr. and passes it along to us. Similar to Preschool Playroom. We love Ladybug and borrow it from the local library, but I agree with Warren that a $35 subscription is a bit much.
view bp090499's profile
Kaz - I totally give my son all the toy catalogues we get and tell, "Look! You got a magazine!" He gets so excited and sits on the floor looking at them forever.
view Alex's profile
Ladybug and Spider are expensive, but No Ads makes me so happy. i have 3 kids,so i have a lot of back issues and i can always periodically just drop one in the mailbox. my preschooler won't figure it out for quite a while...
view kato's profile
My 4 year old loves getting the National Geographic Little Kids. It is a nice little magazine, I just wish it came more often!
view Brenna's profile
My almost-4-year old son gets High Five and loves it. When it comes in the mail he's glued to it for the rest of the day.
view missuswayne's profile
We get Ladybug and Highlights High 5 for our 3 and 5 year old girls. High 5 is fantastic--more durable than regular Highlights and very age appropriate for them. One tip is to try subscribing through ebates. I think I was able to get 25% back on the subscription rate with no automatic renewals (so I can do it again next year) on Highlights. Plus, for no ads, I'm willing to pay a bit more.
view ochtamale97's profile
We subscribed to Chirp magazine for our 4-year-old daughter - she loves it.
I'm interested in subscribing to a few more magazines. Can anyone comment as to the amount of advertising in NG Little Kids and Your Big Backyard?
view Diana342's profile
Our kids get / have gotten Wild Animal Baby, Natl Geo kids, and Little Lutheran. They never got into NG, but they really like Wild Animal Baby.
view nohatein08's profile