Storytime magazine is packed with brilliant tales for ages 3-9, what makes the magazine different from other kid’s magazines?
The thing that makes Storytime unique is that it’s all about the stories. We don’t have gimmicks, cards or plastic trinkets on the cover, we also don’t have advertising or sponsored content. Every month, we deliver over fifty pages of thrilling tales, awesome illustrations and puzzles and activities – and that’s it! Our magazine is created to give them the best content – like they deserve!
All of us on the Storytime team loved stories as kids, and it was always our goal to share the joy of reading with a new generation of children.
Telling stories is what makes us human – and connects us all. Stories are important tools to create memories, and well-told tales have a universal appeal. We like to think that’s why Storytime has been licensed to publishers around the world, from China and India to Indonesia and Australia.
Storytime is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, why do you think the magazine has remained so popular all these years?
Again, I think it is the focus on quality content above all else. A gimmick or a cover-mounted item can lead to an impulse purchase, but what brings the readers back year after year are the tales. There’s also variety, so they never get bored; we have fairy tales, myths and legends, classic fables, short bedtime stories, fun original tales set in the modern day and even forays into fantasy and science fiction!
We have stayed up-to-date with children’s interests and trends and have added fun features every year to reflect that. Our yearly survey to readers has helped us to also keep in touch with the audience and hear from them what they would like to see – and bring it to our pages. We have grown with our audience, and that’s very important
One aspect of the magazine’s appeal that I have to mention is the art! Our Creative Director has an amazing ability to find new and talented young artists from around the world. (In some occasions, Storytime has given them their first big break!). We bring new artists and artwork styles that are fresh and not seen before. It allows children to choose what they like, as in each issue there are different styles and topics, so there is something for everyone.
How do you select the stories and themes for each issue of Storytime?
Planning our story lineup for each issue is a challenging but rewarding process! We have eight different categories of stories in every issue, so we need to select one for each, and we look for where the stories come from, which topics they cover, a fair balance between boys, girls and animal tales as well as length and reading level.
Within the issue, we try to maintain variety and balance. Are there adventure stories and funny stories, and so on? We also discuss what would be cool to have on the cover and let that influence our choice. It’s like playing the video game ‘Tetris’, but with stories – it isn’t always easy to make the blocks fit together, but when they do (and we always manage it!), it’s incredibly satisfying!
As far as theming goes, we keep it light. Our December issues usually have some Christmas or winter-themed tales and the October one might have some Halloween inspiration, and of course, we might put more tales with sea, sun and holidays in summer. We did write a sports-centric tale set in Japan for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but of course, that event was postponed due to COVID! It was still a fun story, though.
How do you incorporate educational elements into the stories and puzzles?
The most important thing for us is to be entertaining! We think reading for fun is the best way to learn as stories are excellent at improving linguistic skills and building vocabulary AND it is fun at the same time. But that’s just the start! As we know, Storytime is loved by teachers and pupils all over the world, so we make sure each issue is packed with extras that add value to the content! Many of the stories have boxes with extra facts, prompts and downloadable activities, and every month we have a section called ‘You Need to Know About…’ packed with extra information and facts on something featured in the story. It might be about bees, legendary places, or the Maori people of New Zealand!
The puzzles section of the magazine has activities themed around the different stories in the issue, and we try to include ones that challenge readers in different ways – maths, language skills, pattern recognition and craft activities, for example.
Oh, and we also introduced a new story strand which has an educational focus, and it’s been a favourite with our readers: ‘Awesome Adventures’ are short stories about the childhoods of various famous real-life people. We’ve written tales about writers, musical artists, athletes, engineers and mathematicians! Our aim with this section was to introduce kids to inspirational figures and the times and places they grew up in, but in a fun and relatable way. Through this strand we have been also able to explore many of the STEAM topics and expand the subjects we cover in the extra learning resources materials we produce every month as well.
Subscribers can download Home Learning Packs for free from your website, can you tell us a little more about this?
Storytime is very popular with schools all over the world, and we offer an educational discount to them when they need multiple copies for the whole classroom – and sometimes, for the whole school! Our main mission is to get kids falling in love with reading and help to improve literacy levels, so we know every little helps. To support teachers using our content in the class or for home learning, we produce 20-page teaching resources related to each issue. They include a glossary, lesson plans, and various activities that tie into the national curriculum and cover literacy, maths, science, art, PSHE and so on.
During the recent pandemic, when many kids were learning from home, we decided to make the teaching resource packs available to all subscribers, so parents could use them to teach kids while using stories to make lessons engaging. It was very successful, and the packs are still available to all subscribers.
What can subscribers expect from future issues, why subscribe?
More great stories, and more wonderful art! We’re committed to improving Storytime and do our best to make every issue better than the last! If you want to make your reading time special and create memories, away from social media: we are here for you!
Storytime wants to be the brand you go to for the best stories in the world – they are available in print, audio and digital formats. ‘Read, play, and fall in love with stories’ Is our motto! We will be bringing new features soon that will help readers enjoy stories in many more formats and have fun with them – so stay tuned and watch out for more announcements!
Subscribe and save with a magazine subscription to Storytime, with delivery included in the price!
