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I want to start sending my (brilliant, beautiful) nieces a sciency/mathy magazine that they can look at. They are 6 and 8 and can read great and both say they enjoy math, but I'm worried about the pernicious "math is hard for girls" meme that is out there, so I want them to be confident enough that they can blow that meme off for the nonsense it is when (not if) they encounter it.
Does anyone have any ideas? I remember getting OMNI, but that's not quite what I had in mind, although I may be remembering it wrong. I know there's a TIME for Kids magazine, but that doesn't have enough math and science in it.
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I used to like looking at Scientific American when I was a kid, or National Geographic. They aren't principally math oriented, but there wind up being a fair number of charts and graphs and some such.
I think an interesting idea for a feature magazine would be about "million" and showing what a million means in a variety of contexts. Does it have to be a periodical? Because I think there are educational publications that are non periodical that might be good.
I could kill my daughter's math teacher. She gives them grades for getting quizzes signed and returned, and my daughter warns me her grade won't be good this term mostly for that reason.
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They are six and eight, and while they are absolutely brilliant, adult publications are not what I have in mind. Ideally, someting orientated towards kids with concrete examples. They can read just fine, but kids' brains work differently, and I'd love to find something meant for them.
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I remember enjoying Science News quite a bit while fairly young. Shorter articles, focusing on the major aspects of new developments, but still aimed at adults, including a large audience of scientists (which is, in my mind, a big plus).
It also comes out weekly and has lots of interesting pictures.
edit: this was before your last post, sorry. I don't think I ever read any science publications for kids.
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Super-K gets National Geographic for Kids, but I find the magazine a bit too full of advertisements to recommend it to others. (His subscription was a Christmas present from Grandma.)
I loved National Geographic (the "adult" version) when I was that age. The maps, the pictures, everything was so...neat. Ranger Rick magazine was good, too.
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Odyssey was a magazine that I enjoyed as a child. It looks like it's broadened its scope a bit since the 70s, though; back then it was focused exclusively on astronomy.
Doesn't National Geographic have a kid's magazine or two?
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Another thought -- before subscribing to any magazine, go check out what the children's section has in the library and give 'em a look-see, first. See what you think . . . borrow a friend's kid and take 'em with, if you can, to get the real consumer take. Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I remember reading Ranger Rick and 3-2-1 Contact. The former was biology and ecology, the latter had math and science that was more rockets and space focused. But some chemistry and stuff too. I don't know if either of them still exist.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I can understand why they would print a magazine if they can distribute online. Printing and distribution is expensive and not so good for the environment, which is something all sciency kids are into these days.
I also found a thing about Zoom in the 70's and Bernadette's arm trick. It was funny because usually they didn't let the kids have their fan mail, so they wouldn't get swelled heads, but the arm trick mail was apparently one exception. Of course just about everyone knows the arm trick nowadays, or at least old people like me whose older siblings watched Zoom.
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I recommend Zoobooks if they like animals. I loved Zoobooks when I was a kid (starting around age 7). Each issue revolves around a group of animals and goes into the science and conservation efforts regarding that group of animals. The magazines had a lot of illustrations and, as far as I remember, had text that was kid-appropriate without really dumbing things down. I specifically remember being fascinated by the drawings of the skeleton and muscles of the various animals.
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Ranger Rick, My Big Back Yard, Highlights, Jack and Jill. None of those are particularly math oriented but they all are good for that age range.
Here is Jack and Jill which i think is the least popular i listed.
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For a non-periodical, if they like math, get them a copy of Math for Smarty Pants. Its put out by Little Brown. What I learned from that book, at 8, stayed with me and was useful through my high school math classes.
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Cobblestone Publications has some good ones, including the aforementioned Odessey and Ask (arts & science), as well as other sorts (e.g., the more literary Cricket).
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Did The Phantom Tollbooth have math in it? I can't wait for the live action big budget remake of that to come out.
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Muse for the eight-year-old, and Ask for the six-year-old. I got the science ones instead of the literary one because they read all the time and get plenty of exposure to literary things as it is. I'm not worried that society will beat that out of them. I am worried that society will beat their love of math out of them.
I enjoy getting stuff for my nieces, in part because I rarely do it around their birthdays. This means there's no pressure to do it (since they don't get b-day presents from me) and I don't feel like it's an obligation.
However, it does mean that when the blue cookie jar from eBay was accidentally mailed last month to Katya in SLC instead of Katie (me) in Virginia, my sister-in-law just figured it was me being weird again and gave it to her daughter for her bedroom.
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Mine (my my kids') favorite children's science magazine is Muse. They bill themselves as "A guidebook for intellectual exploration" It was pretty broad too - one issue would have a large feature, with lots of photos, about a new archaeological discovery, while the next might have an in-depth story with great illustrations about how DNA works.
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And in the "Life is Cool" category, I just got notice that my aunt in Houston sent me a package.
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I remember reading and enjoying "National Wildlife" and "International Wildlife" as a kid. I don't know if they are still published though.
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Ranger Rick's still around, though the comic strip starring the titular cartoon raccoon included in each issue has rather deteriorated over the years. Dreadful, confusing art combined with stories that the four year old would find dull and pointless. Way to use the power of comics to win kids over to the cause of wildlife.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by pooka: Did The Phantom Tollbooth have math in it? I can't wait for the live action big budget remake of that to come out.
Yes. Though I would rather they not remake the Butch Patrick flick, instead doing a straight adaptation of the original book.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I used to love 3-2-1 Contact and National Geographic World (the old kids version of the magazine)when I was about that age. I don't even know if they still make boh of these
Posts: 340 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Not to disparage your view of science, but I don't think Kat agrees with it, and I think you know that, so it's a bit disingenuous to suggest a creationist kids science magazine as being a good gift for her to give.
*EDIT: It doesn't look like it's even a real magazine. It's just a series pull-out fliers that are included in adult-focused creation science magazine. You can currently only buy one of those fliers and the rest (three others, I think) are only accessible on a web site.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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Ranger Rick is still pretty good. Perhaps not as good as when I was a kid, but my kids love it (and fight over it when it comes).
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Cobblestone Publications has some good ones, including the aforementioned Odessey and Ask (arts & science), as well as other sorts (e.g., the more literary Cricket).
I got my nephew (6) Ask for Christmas.
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