Beyond the Toy: How a New Framework is Transforming Children’s Magazines
Children’s magazines have long been a cherished part of growing up – sparking curiosity, supporting early learning, and offering fun, screen-free activities that children can enjoy independently or with their families. Many titles come with toys or play items that add excitement and value, helping children engage more deeply with the magazine content. Like many industries, publishers have been focused on making their products and businesses more sustainable, including the covermounted toys which have drawn more attention in recent years.
At FUNdamentally Children, we believe that with the right approach, children’s magazines, and the play items they include, can support a healthy, balanced play diet and offer real developmental value. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Children’s Magazine Forum to create a framework that helps the industry celebrate best practice whilst measuring and improving the quality, sustainability, and educational benefits of these magazines.
Why this matters
Children’s magazines do far more than entertain. They provide opportunities for storytelling, creativity, problem-solving and social play, all of which support key areas of a child’s development.
Children’s magazines offer a wealth of captivating content that stimulates the interest of young readers. Through engaging graphics, age-appropriate stories, and interactive playful elements, magazines entice children to engage with reading materials. Toys encourage children to engage with magazines. This engagement, in turn, enhances their reading skills including fluency, comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and critical thinking abilities. Children who have access to a wide range of reading materials, such as magazines, demonstrate improved literacy outcomes compared to those with limited exposure.
The toys included with them, when thoughtfully designed enhance this experience, encouraging imaginative play, fine motor skills, and real-world learning. However, it’s important to balance these benefits with environmental considerations. By working together with publishers, we aim to move the conversation and support the creation of better, more responsible products that are good for children and better for the planet.
A Framework for Progress
To do this, FUNdamentally Children developed an evidence-based assessment framework that evaluates children’s magazines across three key areas:
- Sustainability – ensuring that covermounted toys are durable, multi-use and packaging recycling labels are clearly visible.
- Play Value – the toy’s ability to spark open-ended, engaging, and repeated play.
- Educational Benefit – links to learning outcomes, both formal and informal.
This framework allows us to identify where improvements can be made, as well as to highlight and celebrate examples of best practice.
How the Scheme Works
Children’s magazine publishers – including Immediate Media, Kennedy Publishing, and Story House Egmont, Panini and LCD – have voluntarily participated in the scheme. Twice a year, a selection of titles is reviewed using our framework.
Publishers provide sample issues and we assess the covermounts and magazine content through a child development lens. The reviews conducted together by children and parents generate individual feedback as well as broader insights that help inform the industry as a whole.
Driving Change, Together
The scheme aims to work collaboratively to raise standards and champion innovation. By taking part in the scheme, publishers gain access to research, expert feedback and guidance that supports their teams to create even better products. We’re also supporting the Children’s Magazine Forum in its work with retailers and distributors to help them understand and communicate the value of quality magazines to families.
Celebrating Early Success
Already we’re seeing fantastic examples of best practice and are continually looking at how we can constantly evolve and improve. Publishers are championing toys that are durable and multi-use, whilst expanding use of recycled and recyclable materials, and are increasing efforts to create strong links between the toys and educational themes of each issue. There’s a real appetite for change, and we’re proud to be helping drive it.
A Note on Our Visuals:
The images in this article were created using Generative AI for conceptual and illustrative purposes. They are intended to demonstrate modern interactive play and sustainable product design; as such, they do not depict real-world individuals or specific commercially available products.