Fun with all of your favorite Nick Jr. characters

This magazine is advertised as the place,"Where kids play to learn and parents learn to play." This is all true. We have been subscribing to Nick Jr. magazine for over a year now. Every issue is full of fun ideas and projects for parents and children to do together. For this review I will be using the Feb/March 2001 issue as an example. Every issue is pretty much the same as far as what is contained in the magazine. The articles,projects,and stories all change each month,of course.

The Nick Jr. magazine is actually two magazines in one. The larger,main magazine is intended for parents and children to read together. Inside of the main magazine,is a smaller,pullout magazine for children.

The Pullout

This section is usually about 16 pages long. This is where your child will see all of their favorites. From Blue's Clues to Bob the Builder to Franklin,this is the section they are in.

This section also contains a pullout Handy Dandy Notebook. Every issue contains a game of Blues Clues. There are three pawprints throughout the childrens sections. Find them and draw what they are on in the notebbok. After finding all three,you will find out what Blue wants to do,eat,etc.

The pullout has puzzles,letter games,picture games,poems and stories,and at the end is an "I did it myself!" certificate. The Feb/March issue even contains five Franklin Valentine Cards.

The Main Magazine

This is where the fun really begins. There is a section on things to do together and a just for grown-ups section.

To Do Together

Remember this is just one issue-Feb/March 2001.

Meet the winners of the Cooking with Kids Contest. These are recipes,that are tasty,nutritious,fun to make and child appropriate. One great way to spend time together is to cook with one another.

There is a section of activities that siblings of different ages can do together. This not only gets the siblings of different ages interacting,but builds a foundation for their growing and changing relationships with one another.

To get kids up and moving,there is a physical activity section. Not only is a healthy mind important,but so is a healthy body. This is important for children to learn and this section contains stretches,etc.

Art projects are always fun and this section always has imaginative ideas. Whether you are making a suncatcher,newspaper hats or decorating lamp shades,you are sure to have fun together.

In the safety section,your child can use firefighter stickers to help the firefighters get ready to fight fire. It teaches the different uses for fire equipment also has a fire safety plan for your family.

Ever wondered what to do with old CD cases? How about making a purse or a picture frame? These are just two of the fun ideas you will have to choose from.

There is always a read together story. These reinforce independence in children,high self esteem,etc. These are short stories and kids love them.

The why section always has a question kids want an answer to. For example "why do we sneeze?" The answers are always simple and straight forward.

For the Grown-ups

This is where parents can learn creative parenting strategies,fun birthday party ideas,software reviews,video reviews,etc. There is also an astrology guide for your children.

All in all,this is a fun magazine for both parent and child. I only have one qualm with this magazine. The advertisements. There are quite a few. Now,there are never any in the kids pull out,but there are in the main magazine. In the Feb/March issue,there were a total of 60 pages in the main magazine,with 20 advertisements. This aside,this is a great magazine.

I hope this review gave you some idea of what is between the pages of this great magazine.