Yesterday was a busy day. The little two went to a new home education sports group with their friends from 3 Kids and a Gluestick, and then on to a birthday party. Meanwhile I took the big boys to their first French lesson at another local home education group. We met up with the others back at the party and spent some time with them, before heading home at the end of the afternoon tired but happy after a successful day. I was just calculating how quickly I could produce supper when we got home, and wondering how to occupy the children in the mean time, when we arrived back to find our new DC Super Friends magazine waiting for us. This was a perfect diversion while I got the supper ready, though I have to say that the children were so excited, and overtired, that there was a bit of a scuffle about who could look at it first!
The magazine is aimed at pre-school boys aged 2-5, so it was obviously very suitable for Tiddler, but I knew that all the others would like it just as much – and they do. Rabbit loves it and lots of the activities are just right for her – girls like Superheroes too! And the older boys love anything to do with Superheroes, so they were happy as well.
The first thing they wanted to do, of course, was to play with the toys so that is what they did before supper. We have had many magazine toys over the years, some much better than others, but these “cool communicators” are just about right. Pretty simple but fun, brightly coloured and appealing, and didn’t break before they came out of the packaging (that has happened on a number of occasions with other magazines.) The superhero pictures that slide into the slots on the front can be reversed, and the children really liked this feature.
The magazine contains colouring and activity pages, a story and some things to cut out and make. While the children were eating their supper, I read the story to them, and straight afterwards Owl read the whole magazine from cover to cover. He would have liked to do some of the activities but he said he would wait and see what the others wanted to do first. I am sure they will want his help when it comes to making the batman mask and batmobile, because he is very good at making things.
It didn’t take the children long to notice that there is a competition to win a Batcave Playset and Figurines, so I am sure we will be entering that!
Rabbit spent some time working on spot the difference, code-breaking and matching activities, which she did with very little help. Next, Monkey looked at the pictures drawn by other children on the last page and drew his own picture of Superman. The children are often to be found drawing superheroes, so they are planning to send some of their pictures in to the magazine.
Finally, when they should have been going to bed, Rabbit and Tiddler spent a long time working together on the story page, sharing so nicely that they were allowed to stay up late. One activity involved drawing circles which was great practice for Tiddler, and then Rabbit took over when it came to the writing. They then managed to work on the same colouring picture and complete it without fighting – I was very impressed.
That’s all there was time for last night, but the children are planning to make the mask and batmobile later this afternoon, and will probably finish the rest of the activities too. Then they will be looking out for the next issue, and I am sure we will be getting it because it is so nice to find a magazine that appeals to all of them – I am not keen on buying four magazines at once!
DC Super Friends magazine went on sale yesterday (19th September 2013) and is available from supermarkets and newsagents or on subscription. Titan Magazines kindly sent us a free copy to review.
