I’m happy that my parents supported me in my literary pursuits by purchasing books, magazines from Owlkids, and always being available to read to me. You don’t need to be an educator or even a parent to know that reading is important in a child’s development and a person’s overall health and happiness.
The Canadian Paediatric Society states that “Children’s early experiences with books and reading help prepare them for school and set them up for success later in life. Exposing babies to books and reading increases vocabulary and makes it easier for them to learn to read later on.**”
The biggest problem I’ve found in reading to The Kids is trying to find quality reading materials. Often I find myself just getting started with a book and before I’ve turned to the second page, I’m making up a totally different and better story. When I thought back to my childhood, I remembered that I’d always loved the variety, pictures and content of Owlkids distributions and to my joy, they’re still doing what they do best; educating Kids across North America!
Owlkids has been Educating Kids since 1976
Starting in 1976, Owl magazine was a popular Canadian children’s magazine and now they’ve gone on to add videos, books and multiple magazines to their product line. While they still have OWL (ages 10+) and chickadee (ages 6-9), I felt that since The Kids were pre-reading, they’d get the most out of the simpler text and storylines of the Chirp magazine which is intended for ages 3-6. When the first issue arrived, I was not disappointed and more importantly, neither were they.
It contained 35 colourful pages packed with; cartoons, mazes, games, activities, songs, recipes, jokes, reading math, stories and more! By the time they got to the end of the magazine, it was time to start again. Repeat and rinse for the past month. The great news is that each month another one arrives to add to our collection. And, in years from now, when they’ve moved on up to chickaDEE and OWL, I know that I’ll see the Chirp magazines again being reincorporated into one of Artemis’ craft creations.
What I didn’t remember from my childhood was Owlkids Books although, given they’ve been around for over 35 years, I’m sure that I’ve read many of their books. When I went to their website, I felt like a kid in a book store (that’s the idiom right!?). I was amazed to see hundreds of books to choose from and the great news is that they’re all categorized by age, series or author and are easily searchable. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to choose three beautiful hardcovered books.
The first book I picked was “Wandering Whale Sharks” because at five years old, The Kids are very interested in concepts that they can’t quite touch such as outer space and what’s in the ocean. The book was filled with beautiful hand illustrated pictures that made you want to jump into the water with the whale. I really enjoyed the easy flow and simplicity of the text as well as the educational value considering we know very little about Whales.
The next one we read was “Wild Ideas: Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking”. Artemis was drawn to this one and I wasn’t surprised given all the intricate pictures. Something is going on in almost every single inch of every single page of the entire book. I appreciated that there were so many colours and different points to talk about because I wasn’t a huge fan of the text. I found it to be a bit disconnected and silly but enjoyed the overall message which talked about overcoming our problems.
Last but not least, I got the book “A Ticket Around the World”. I thought that it would be appropriate since we spend four months a year living in a different country with a different culture and language. It was really interesting for all of us to learn about the world us. My favourite part was that it included an entry on Canada!
If you’re looking for a gift for a child aged 3 to 12 pick up a couple of books or get them a magazine subscription. Each month they’ll think of you or whenever they open the book. Reading is the gift that keeps on giving. Speaking of which, Owlkids wants to give one of my readers a copy of the three books that we reviewed!