Science Geekery for kids (Magazines)
Particularly for my friend Tami's daughter, but I'm making it quite broad, so hopefully it'll be helpful for any budding young science geeks. Since I don't have a lot of time left tonight, I'm just starting with magazines. I'm a huge fan of magazine subscriptions for kids. I had a lot growing up, and the excitement of their new arrival always got me reading them right away (and I'm enough of a packrat that I actually still have a large number of them, too). Also, I loved that _I_ actually got real mail addressed to me!
I'm not personally familiar with all these magazines, and for some of them my memories are a quarter-century old, so I'm including a lot of caveats and general "I know these folks make good stuff" recs. Also, I've been noticing that some of the magazines designed for toddlers are actually in board-book format! Nifty!
I'm a huge fan of Cobblestone Publishing, so I'll start with their science offerings (their humanities offerings are equally awesome, btw!) I'm linking to their site, but the subscriptions can also be ordered through Amazon.
Click Grades K-2 (ages 3-6)
Ask Grades 3-5 (ages 6-9)
Muse Grades 5-9 (ages 9+)
Odyssey Grades 5-9 (ages 9+)
Cobblestone History and Culture Magazines -- For science geeks I'd draw particular attention to Dig (ages 9-14) and Faces (ages 9-14). Faces is anthropology-focused, and really excellent (I had it as a kid and loved it), Dig is archeology-focused.
I've also always really loved Zoobooks, and have been pleased to discover they now have options for different ages. Each issue focuses on a different type of animal, and really gets quite in-depth. I still have clear memories of the Elephant zoobook from my own childhood, and getting to see how their musculature and teeth worked.
Zoobies (ages 0-2) -- I haven't seen this one in person yet.
Zootles (ages 2-6) -- I picked up a bunch on sale at the dollar store and I've been extremely pleased with them.
Zoobooks (ages 6-12) -- Still just as awesome as when I read them as a kid.
Ranger Rick from The National Wildlife Federation was another magazine I had as a kid. I can't say I loved it quite as much as Zoobooks and the Cobblestone mags, though. Still, it's good stuff, with a big focus on conservation:
Wild Animal Baby (ages 1-4)
Your Big Backyard (ages 4-7)
Ranger Rick (ages 7-14)
National Geographic's kid magazine was called "World" when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed it a lot. Apparently they've renamed it and added a young kids version as well:
National Geographic Kids (ages 6-up)
National Geographic Little Kids (ages 3-6)
A few others that I found:
Kids Discover -- Kids version of the adult magazine. The samples on the site look pretty good.
Science News for Kids -- I haven't seen this one before.
Bonus non-science rocktasticness:
Skipping Stones: An International Multicultural Magazine
Skipping Stones is an award-winning, international, non-profit magazine. We celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, facilitates a meaningful exchange of ideas and experiences. Young readers of Skipping Stones, ages 8 to 16, hail from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. -- How awesome is that?
And can I just say I'm deeply creeped out by the set of Focus on the Family kids magazines I just ran across? *shudder* (they're called Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr, fyi)
I'm not personally familiar with all these magazines, and for some of them my memories are a quarter-century old, so I'm including a lot of caveats and general "I know these folks make good stuff" recs. Also, I've been noticing that some of the magazines designed for toddlers are actually in board-book format! Nifty!
I'm a huge fan of Cobblestone Publishing, so I'll start with their science offerings (their humanities offerings are equally awesome, btw!) I'm linking to their site, but the subscriptions can also be ordered through Amazon.
Click Grades K-2 (ages 3-6)
Ask Grades 3-5 (ages 6-9)
Muse Grades 5-9 (ages 9+)
Odyssey Grades 5-9 (ages 9+)
Cobblestone History and Culture Magazines -- For science geeks I'd draw particular attention to Dig (ages 9-14) and Faces (ages 9-14). Faces is anthropology-focused, and really excellent (I had it as a kid and loved it), Dig is archeology-focused.
I've also always really loved Zoobooks, and have been pleased to discover they now have options for different ages. Each issue focuses on a different type of animal, and really gets quite in-depth. I still have clear memories of the Elephant zoobook from my own childhood, and getting to see how their musculature and teeth worked.
Zoobies (ages 0-2) -- I haven't seen this one in person yet.
Zootles (ages 2-6) -- I picked up a bunch on sale at the dollar store and I've been extremely pleased with them.
Zoobooks (ages 6-12) -- Still just as awesome as when I read them as a kid.
Ranger Rick from The National Wildlife Federation was another magazine I had as a kid. I can't say I loved it quite as much as Zoobooks and the Cobblestone mags, though. Still, it's good stuff, with a big focus on conservation:
Wild Animal Baby (ages 1-4)
Your Big Backyard (ages 4-7)
Ranger Rick (ages 7-14)
National Geographic's kid magazine was called "World" when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed it a lot. Apparently they've renamed it and added a young kids version as well:
National Geographic Kids (ages 6-up)
National Geographic Little Kids (ages 3-6)
A few others that I found:
Kids Discover -- Kids version of the adult magazine. The samples on the site look pretty good.
Science News for Kids -- I haven't seen this one before.
Bonus non-science rocktasticness:
Skipping Stones: An International Multicultural Magazine
Skipping Stones is an award-winning, international, non-profit magazine. We celebrate ecological and cultural diversity, facilitates a meaningful exchange of ideas and experiences. Young readers of Skipping Stones, ages 8 to 16, hail from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. -- How awesome is that?
And can I just say I'm deeply creeped out by the set of Focus on the Family kids magazines I just ran across? *shudder* (they're called Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr, fyi)