Tag Archives: magazine

Transformers Magazine Review

Reviews of two issues of the new Transformers magazine – the first by Owl and the second by Monkey.

Issue 1

We have been sent the first issue of Transformers magazine to review.  It came with some free gifts:

  • six game cards
  • a card mat
  • action figure

There is a giant wordsearch and a two-part comic.  It includes a competition plus a poster, and on the back is a supercars page and a page full of puzzles!  There are some character profiles too.  This magazine is quite good, and I will give it a 3/5 rating.

transformers magazine 1

Issue 2

We received the second Transformers magazine.  It came with two free gifts: a figure (called Bumblebee) and some trading cards.  There was also a game (no wordsearch unlike the first issue), a comic strip, a poster and pictures drawn by Transformers magazine.  This magazine is quite good.  I will give it a 3/5 rating.

transformers magazine 2

Aquila Magazine

This post was written by Owl.

We have been sent three copies of Aquila Magazine to review.

aquila

 

My favourite bits are Over to You (a page where you can send letters in) and the instructions for making things.

In the November issue, I was very interested to read about time travel.  The article explains the theories about time which were put forward by Immanuel Kant and Albert Einstein.  They raised the questions “Is time real?” and “Does time always go at the same speed?”  I think time is real but I’m not sure, and in my opinion time doesn’t always go at the same speed.  For example, in the early hours of the morning on Christmas Day, time seemed to go very slowly.

I like the mask-making activity in the December issue.

aquila masks

The two things I like best in the January issue are the article about “Why successful people love to fail” and the instructions for making the giant hands, which I will do as soon as I can.

Thank you to Aquila for sending us these excellent magazines!

We were sent the magazines free for the purpose of this review.

DC Super Friends Magazine

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!

DC 1

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.

DC 2

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.

DC 3

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!

DC 4

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.

DC 5

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.