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The convenience of a magazine

For their first birthday, my daughters received a gift subscription to Babybug magazine from a close friend.

At first, I was skeptical that one-year-olds would enjoy the subscription, but my friend assured me they would.  She explained that the magazines are fun for kids to expect in the mail.  Additionally, she said they are the perfect size and weight to take along on a car trip or to toss in a diaper bag.

As my friend predicted, my girls are Babybug fans.  They especially love the regular feature about Kim and her stuffed bunny, Carrots.  The simple stories, with their straightforward illustrations, are just a few pages long.  Sometimes, my daughters have me read Kim and Carrots stories over and over to them while they're sitting on the potty.  (We have a big basket of Babybug magazines right in the bathroom.)

They also love the seek-and-find activity on the back of the magazine.  In each issue, there are cute rhymes to chant with your little ones.  Each monthly issue comes in a removeable wrapper that has tips for how to interact with your child using the poems and stories inside.

When your kids have outgrown Babybug, you can step up to Ladybug first, then Spider and then Cricket, among others.

I actually got familiar with Carus Publishing, the company that publishes Babybug, when I was teaching 6th grade ancient history and language arts.  I ordered a number of issues of Muse (science and history for ages 10 and up), Faces (cultures of the world for ages 9 to 14) and Calliope (kids' history).  The articles are informative, age-appropriate and well-written.  They are a refreshing change from what can often be amateurish kids' information sites on the Internet.

Treat your kids to a little something different to read, and check out Carus Publishing's interesting array of children's magazines.