Kids Discover is Educational But You Could Find Better Ways to Spend Your Money
Written: Mar 29 '03 (Updated Sep 13 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Educational, interesting photography, no ads
Cons: One entire issue was about war, expensive considering only about 20 pages per issue
The Bottom Line: An educational magazine that is best for kids over 8 who are interested in a variety of topics. A subscription is expensive since each issue is only about 20 pages.
modernmarvel's Full Review: Kids Discover Magazine
Kids Discover is an educational magazine for children. It features beautiful photography and art as well as lots of information. Each issue focuses on one topic which is great if your child is interested in the topic. If your child is not interested in that month's topic, the magazine might be wasted. My other complaint about this magazine is that a one year subscription costs $19.95 for 10 issues, however each issue is only about 20 pages. I think the subscription price is too high for what you get, especially when you consider that your child might not be interested in all of the topics. My suggestion: take the $19.95 and buy books on the topics your child likes.
TOPICS
Each issue focuses on one theme. Prior themes have been: Spiders, Moon, Ancient Egypt, Ellis Island, Aztecs, Medicine, 1776, Industrial Revolution and lakes. These topics are great and offer great opportunities to provide interesting information. However, I was surprised to find that the March 2003 issue focused on World War I. The magazine was all about warfare. The centerfold is a picture of a cemetery with hundreds of crosses. It was far too mature for my first grader.
Other topics can also have mature subject matter. The latest issue is about lakes. However, one picture features a picture of the loch ness monster with a sheep in its mouth. While not horrible, that is a small bit of violent imagery that I would prefer not to share with my first grader.
The one topic per issue can be good or bad depending on your child's tastes. If your child is interested in the topic, they can learn a lot about it. The downside is that if the topic does not appeal to your kids, then the entire issue is wasted. Since the topics span history, science and culture, it is hard to know what will arrive with each issue. So, if you child has a particular focus, such as science, this may not be the magazine for you.
WHAT EACH ISSUE CONTAINS
The most important thing to know is that each issue is very short. There are only about 20 pages total. There are no ads in the magazine.
Each issue has a lot of great photography on the chosen topic. There are also some artist's renditions, artwork and some cartoons. Overall, the magazine has an extremely nice and professional layout.
The text is presented mostly as snippets, bits of information that are sometimes no longer than a paragraph. There are often several snippets per page. The information is all factual, there is no fiction. There are also no stories. Again, this might not appeal to all children.
The last two pages are reserved for activities. Sometimes there is a lame craft idea. In the lakes issue, you color a cork green, glue on green pipe cleaner feet, and you have a frog that floats. You can find better craft ideas in almost any other publication. There is usually a word puzzle and one other puzzle, such as matching pictures, based on the theme of the magazine. Expect about 3-4 activities. The word puzzles are too difficult for my first grader.
AGE APPROPRIATENESS
On the web site, the publisher says the magazine is for ages 6 and up. My first grader likes it, if the topic of the magazine interests her. However, I found the war issue to be too violent / mature for her and decided to put it away for much later.
The text of the magazine is too advanced for a first grader to read on their own. It is probably more appropriate for a child later in elementary school. I read this magazine to my first grader although she sometimes picks small parts to read herself.
Overall, I would say, based on vocabulary and the concepts the magazines presents, that this magazine would be best for children in 3-5th grade.
PRICE
A one year subscription is 10 issues and costs $19.95. You can order back issues from the publisher for $3.50 per issue.
MORE INFORMATION
The web site is www.kidsdiscover.com.
For subscription write to: Kids Discover, P.O. Box 54205, Boulder, CO 80328-4205.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This magazine is actually quite nice to look at and provides lots of information on one particular topic per issue. Not all of the topics are appropriate for my child so we did not use all of the magazines. The magazine's content is very limited, it has only factual snippets and no stories or other fiction. I doubt we will renew our subscription. I would rather spend my $19.95 on books I know my child will like. We might try again when my first grader is a couple of years older.
I am reluctantly recommending this magazine, although I think it would be best for kids at least 8 years old and are interested in a wide variety of topics.
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