Sesame Street Magazine now a FREE supplement to Parenting Magazine
Written: Nov 22 '02 (Updated Nov 22 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: "Free" Subscription, Familiar Characters, Fun for Preschoolers
Cons: Comes with Parenting Magazine.... lots of scissor activities
The Bottom Line: Nice preschool magazine for a Sesame Street Kid. Too bad its lumped with Parenting.
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| marytara's Full Review: Sesame Street Magazine |
Once upon a time, I received a sample of Sesame Street Magazine bundled with an issue of Sesame Street Parents. I remembered thinking something along the lines of, Oh, this looks cute - my son's way to young for this (he was under a year at the time if I recall correctly).. That was some time ago, and I didn't really think much of it, until one day a copy of Sesame Street showed up bundled with an issue of Parenting magazine, which I have received regularly for over a year as part of a gift subscription that I received last Christmas.
Growing tired with Parenting magazine (but thats a totally different review), I was pleased to see Sesame Street offered as a supplement. Since this is a review of Sesame Street Magazine, I'll try to keep my commentary on Parenting brief. The bottom line is that though the magazine does contain a few interesting articles it is mostly advertisements and the articles contained within are mostly self-promoting propaganda for their sponsors. Month after month the same type of content is recycled and quite honestly, it has gotten stale for me. I'd found myself reading less and less of each issue, so getting the added Sesame Street with each issue added back a bit of value to my subscription to Parenting. In a nutshell, Sesame Street Magazine is everything that Parenting magazine is not.
Sunny Days.. Taking the Clouds Away
Like many moms raised in the 70s, I grew up on Sesame Street and the characters hold a special place in my heart. Its only natural, that one of the first programs that I approved for my son to watch was Sesame Street and continue to turn on for him regularly is Sesame Street. Its still great, and I love watching both the PBS program and also the spin-off programs offered on the Noggin network.
Sesame Street magazine is an extension of the program bringing the friendly, familiar, and colorful characters into print media and into your home. How exciting it is for little ones to their very own issue of Sesame Street featuring their buddies Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, or Elmo each month or so. Very!. Your little one will probably want to hold this magazine in their own hands and explore it to its fullest. But, once you flip through a copy or two of it you will realize that this publication is best enjoyed together with your child as many of the activities can be fun for the both of you. Plus, they may involve tricky things like cutting and/or folding.
Each issue is done in bright primary colors and the covers are attention grabbing. The issues are skinny, and only about 25 pages each. But, I find that acceptable for a preschool publication and definitely appropriate for their short attention spans. Plus, there is no advertising on any of those pages means no all meat, no fat. I'd rather receive a lean magazine with few ads then one padded with ads for the sake of making the pub look beefier.
Each issue of Sesame Street focuses on a few simple concepts - things like letters or numbers, a color, a season, or a concept like "back to school" or "communication" and uses activities, games, and stories to teach kids.
The inside cover offers a brief message to parents and then the magazine opens with a different character each month delivering the message (i.e. Zoe Says... Elmo Says.. Big Bird Says).
There is always a spot on this first page for kids to write their name - though this line is really way to short for preschoolers to write their name - let alone more than a few letters. Writing activities are repeated throughout the magazine and more reasonable sizing is allowed for. Anyplace that a child is encouraged to write or fill in there is a rainbow colored crayon and an example provided in dotted lettering.
Sesame Street borrows from I spy. Usually a little bug or two on the first page and this same little bug is hidden throughout the issue. Its fun for kids to play a game of finding the hidden pictures, and practice counting the little bugs all at the same time.
Throughout the issue are various stories and games revolving around the theme. A large percentage of these activities involve scissors and cutting out pieces and pasting or taping them on the page someplace. This means that your magazine if you want to read, play and learn page by page will get destroyed. Your child may have just written or colored all over Big Birds Nest and then the next page has a cut out activity. Of course, your child will probably want to do it so you may find this a bit frustrating - as I have. In addition, parents - you will need to do the cutting.. though its usually straight lines the cutouts are often small. Because the pages are glossy and flimsy the cutouts often seem to be unmanagable and get ripped or crinkled way too easily. Shame on Sesame Street for this because they should know better. With a target audience of preschoolers this magazine would last a bit better if it was made from of a card paper stock instead of a thin glossy paper. Of course, it would probably cost more if it did.
Our favorite feature in Sesame Street is Elmo's World. These few pages dedicated to Elmo each issue are absolutely super for younger toddlers in the preschool set. The pages look just likes the segment of Sesame Street by the same name. In the back to school issue there was a cutout of a lunch box that folded in half and then 8 different squares each with different healthy food items (brownies are healthy). Your kid could pick out what they wanted Elmo and Daddy (or Mommy) to pack them for lunch...brownies of course!. This was one of the rare activities that was made double sided so by cutting it out, I didn't have to sabotage the rest of the magazine. Occasionally, they do think about those things - I guess.
Each issue also has a short story with Dragon Tales characters - another PBS program. There are small plugs throughout the magazine for various Noggin and PBS programs but nothing too overly annoying. There's usually a website address for parents to reference later that will contain these same activities, or more related ones.
For little artists, there is always a coloring page included in the magazine and more for free on the Sesameworkshop.org page. (Bonus! You don't need a subscription for these, either...) While I'm on the topic of Sesameworkshop's website there are many of the magazine games and activities featured here for no cost. If you have a good printer and internet connection you can get all of these items for FREE. Who doesn't love that word?.
Last but not least, the issue closes with a calendar that you can cut out and put on your fridge. Each day features a simple activity - like Have a T party. Or, a description of the day. Did you know that January 13th is Rubber Duckie's birthday?. In a pinch for something to do, this calendar will often come through for you or add a bit of trivia to your day.
Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
Now, remember how I said that Sesame Street magazine came free with a subscription to Parenting. Well, at this time my subscription to Parenting is drawing to a close, and I have made my up my mind not to renew it. However, I wanted to look into Sesame Street Magazine for my little guy. Since he is just under 2 years of age he has only recently begun to enjoy the publication and I thought I'd give him another year with it if the price was right.
Unfortunately, I'm dissapointed because upon going to the Sesame Workshop website (www.sesameworkshop.org) I read the following Sesame Street Magazine is not available to the general public. But you can get it FREE when you subscribe to Parenting now. The cost offered to me was just $12 per year for 10 issues of both Parenting and Sesame Street. I would say that a subscription to Sesame Street alone is worth the $12, a dollar a month or $1.20 per issue. I just wish it didn't have to come with the baggage of Parenting magazine too.
If you enjoy Parenting magazine and have a Sesame Street kid then this deal is absolutely for you. If you are like me and have mixed feelings about Parenting magazine you might have to think about "subscribing" to this publication, or consider keeping Sesame Street and giving away or recycling Parenting.
Subscription Link
http://subs.timeinc.net/PA/parent_sesame.jhtml?experience_id=32474
Recommended:
Yes
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marytara
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