Truth to be told, I have not heard of these range of very informative and colourful science magazine until a mummy friend told me that there are science magazines locally published which cater to kids as young as 4 years old. And you can get it from Popular book store or at Popular fair…ok I should start spending more time at Popular and its book fair..but science for a 4 year old…is it abit too young?? Would they be able to understand?? I was quite skeptical until I saw the magazines myself.

Science is a subject only taught from p3 onwards (not even p1) and it is definitely not the easiest subject to be taught(IMHO) (more so for parents to teach science in a home setting but it is the most interesting subject for me in school. Frankly thus far, I have been “reinforcing” the core subjects -English, Math, Chinese especially for the p1 going boy as I refused to believe in p1 preparatory classes (on hindsight maybe I should have outsource it given that the 2 younger ones are seeking more attention from me). Science is often an after thought as it is not a subject for the first 2 years of primary school (still have time kind of mentality). However, science can be a very interesting subject especially for kids who are not so much into languages. And any early exposure can only do a whole world of good!

Young Scientists Pte Ltd (the publisher of the magazines that I will be reviewing) is the pioneer in creative publication of science in comics style.  Through this style of magazine (comic strips), it hopes to stimulate young children’s interest in science. The magazines are currently being  distributed in Singapore, Malaysia, HK and India.

Junior Young Scientist is meant for kids age 4 to 7 years old and The Young Scientist is for p1 and above. The Young Scientist is divided into different levels , Level 1 for p1 and p2, Level 2 for p3 and p4 , Level 3 for p5 and p6 and Level 4 for lower secondary. I will only focus this review on the Junior Young Scientists and The Young Scientists level 1 as they are suitable for J and C.

Junior Young Scientists is recommended for kids from age 4 to 7. It comes in a pack of 5 issues. All the various packs and edition for this series, you can find it here.

Each magazine has 3 stories and each story comes with a page of pre-story to introduce the content of the story.

The magazine boast big texts and colourful illustration which captures young kids’ attention easily. It is done like a comic strips with speech bubbles and makes me realise I seldom have such book of such nature (ok my kids do not own any comic books) And these magazines are the best kind of comic books that I can introduce to my kids. In between story time section, there are also game time which has activities such as colouring, matching, maze, etc before proceeding to another story. Each issue has a good amount of information through its story and interesting facts which are simple to understand for the age group from 4 to 7 years old. Nothing too “chim” and general knowledge on plants, animals, weathers, body parts can be easily introduce to the kids at a young age. I wish I know of these series when J was younger! One can use these short stories as bed time stories as well as it is not too lengthy nor wordy. It is also good for role playing for kids who can read to promote parent and child bonding.

However, I did find it a tad too simple for J who is 6 plus year especially the activity pages which are more suited for C. Nevertheless there are some information that are new even to J like meat eating plants like the pitcher plants etc. For now, J reading mainly from The Young Scientists level 1 while the Junior Young Scientists issues “belong” to C.

The Young Scientists (Level 1) structure is different from the simple structure of the Junior version. It comes in a pack of 10 issues. All the various packs and edition for this series, you can find it here.  It covers a diverse range of information using comic to let readers absorb new and fun facts. There are many little facts at the bottom of the page to enforce the information on the comic strips. Besides that, they also point the parents to information on the youtube that can reinforce the learning. Unlike the Junior version, there is no activity pages. But for a 40 plus page magazine, every issue is packed with a whole lot of information. Very compact and easy to understand especially for information that J is not familiar with. However, I do wish there are some activities like crossword puzzles, filling of blanks to reinforce what has been read.

The Junior Young Scientists are priced at SGD 20 per pack which contains 5 issues while the Young Scientists are priced at SGD 55 per pack which contains 10 issue. Do check their website as they have promotions and currently the 2015 collector’s set are at 15% discount.

You can also purchase  at all  Popular or MPH bookstores.

You can actually keep the magazines (just like story books) for the younger kids in future. It is not like your typical magazines where you read and probably will recycle/throw. It is more like a book which can be passed on to the younger siblings or friends with younger kids. I am sure in time to come my home will have many issues of both the Junior Young Scientists and The Young Scientists. You can also start an annual subscription for 2016 issue through the website as well. There will be a total of 10 magazines which means 1 magazine delivered monthly from January’16 (#153) till October’16 (#162) 2015 (10 issues) at SGD 55.  Not sure about your kids but my older ones love receiving mails in their name.

The publisher has kindly provided me 1 set of Junior Young Scientists and 1 set of The Young Scientists to be given away to my readers. I hope your kids will like the magazines as much as my kids. The usual drills of my giveaway……

1. Liked mypreciouzkids.com on Facebook

2. Liked The Young Scientists on Facebook

3. Liked, shared and tag 5 friends who are new to mypreciouzkids using this Facebook post. Pls comment “done”on the same post for my easy tracking. Do set your post to PUBLIC so that I can verify your entry. Entries that are not shared publicly will be disqualified. Please state which set you prefer.

I will be picking the lucky winners using random.org . The giveaway closes on 29 November 2015, 2359pm (SUN).

Disclosure: I received a set of Junior Young Scientists and The Young Scientists for the purposes of my review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.