I found
Preschool Playroom magazine when I was looking for magazines comparable to
Sesame Street which is not available by itself, only with a subscription to Parenting. When I found a subscription to
Preschool Playroom for just $10 at the
Magazine Values.com Website I thought I would give it a try.
About Preschool Playroom
Preschool Playroom is from
Redan and is a
Fun To Learn publication. Other
Fun To Learn magazines include Winnie The Pooh, Thomas & Friends, and Barney Magazine.
Preschool Playroom is a bit different than these others because it doesn't focus on one favorite character but instead includes several favorites, including:
Caillou
Jay Jay the Jet Plane
Bob the Builder
Spot
Peter Rabbit
Maisy
Bear in the Big Blue House
My son, like many 2 year olds, enjoys friendly characters from some of his favorite television programs. Of the charactes mentioned above he is actually only real familiar with Maisy, Bob the Builder and Bear in th Big Blue House. He does have books with both Spot and Peter Rabbit in them so he's familiar with them. Caillou and Jay Jay the Jet plane are both relatively new to both of us (they are on PBS).
Subscription Info
The regular price for a subscription to
Preschool Playroom is $27.00 for 6 issues but it can usually be found on sale for $19.97. Like most magazines, if you do a bit of digging you can find discount subscriptions. I'm particularly happy with MagazineValues.com where I found this one really cheap! If you don't have a subscription the cover price is $3.99 per issue, but this is not a magazine regularly found on the newstand (at least not the ones near me!).
Inside Preschool Playroom
Each issue of this magazine is around 30 pages which is about the norm for a young child's magazine. It may seem like very few pages, but its just about right for their attention span. Also, the magazine doesn't include advertisements, except for an occasional ad for a new video or movie featuring one of the characters i.e the latest from Bob the Builder called
Building Friendships.
The contents of the magazine are to be expected - its made of some stories and simple activities. Each issue centers on a theme and then there are 2-4 pages per character on some variation of this theme. For example, a recent issue focused on feeling good, and good health.
My biggest pet peeve about most kiddie magazines is that they are usually full of scissor and marking activities which are poorly placed. Its frustrating to have to choose between cutting up a page to complete a matching activity or play a game when on the other side there is a nice picture or story that you might want to enjoy over and over again. I imagined that this magazine would be no different so I am very thrilled to inform you that
Preschool Playroom does not do this!
I absolutely love the layout of
Preschool Playroom. Obviously some thought was put into the construction of this publication. In the center of the magazine is the
Fun to Learn Pull-Out Workbook. The pages simply pull out (with a bit of force) from the staple binding that holds the rest of the magazine together. Instead of being made of the same glossy magazine stock, these pages (usually 14-16, so approximately half the magazine) are instead a paper stock. The paper stock is easier for your child to write on with whatever writing implement is their choosing. This is great because its nearly impossible to write in crayon or pencil on a glossy magazine page. The workbook focuses on age appropriate activities for preschoolers such as counting, following/tracing, find & seek, matching, coloring, and what's different. There is a spot on the front of the workshop for children to write their name and age. Kids can draw on one of the pages, complete a poll and mail that in to be included in an upcoming magazine - we haven't tried that yet. And, on the last page of the workbook is a certificate which can be cut out and hung up. These are about the only scissor activities in the entire magazine.
Someone out there must know how I feel about toddlers with scissors!
The joy of the pull-out workbook is that you can work on these pages with your child and complete them pages at your own pace and not ruin the rest of the magazine. Once the pull-out workbook is removed you can also remove the next page in which is usually a pull-out poster to hang up or place on your fridge. Or you can leave it in the magazine if you choose (we usually do). The rest of the magazine is full of stories and other simple activities that can be read and enjoyed over and over again. Regular departments include:
Playroom Read and Rhyme which is a simple story/poem,
Playroom Parent and Child Project - often a recipe of some sort, and the
Playroom Parent and Child Page. Personally, I could have lived without trying the recipe for
Peter Rabbit's Crunchy Coleslaw, but live and learn!
For $10, I'm very impressed with the value of
Preschool Playroom. I would probably even pay a bit more than that for this fun and educational publication featuring some of our favorite characters. Its my feeling that this magazine is really geared toward younger preschoolers and toddlers - mainly the 2 to 4 year olds. I think that your likely to find 5 and 6 year olds are bored with this and find it to be on the babyish side. Right now, this is a favorite for our 2 year old and one I'll think about extending in a years time based on his interest in completing the activities.
Other Kids Magazines you may be interested in:
For a child who likes characters:
Sesame Street
The Wiggles Magazine
For a child who is an animal lover:
Wild Animal Baby
Your Big Backyard
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