Magazine/comic for 4 year old boy

[LeeMiller]

My DS is just 4 and loves getting a magazine. We travel a lot and find they’re ideal for plane/train journeys. In the past we have enjoyed Peppa, Bing and Bob the Builder magazines but I’m not sure what the next step is. He really loves superheroes and vehicles but is also interested in nature, pirates, dinosaurs etc. He likes magazines with stories, puzzles, mazes etc but is less bothered about colouring and complex craft (since we use magazines when travelling). A free toy is appreciated. Anything for practising letters/numbers is good too but he’s not reading yet.

Any suggestions we can try? We live abroad so I have to order English stuff without seeing it. Is the Blaze magazine any good? Are the Lego ones too old and just advertising Lego? Any age-appropriate superhero stuff (Spidey etc)? What age is the Beano suitable for and does it have activities?

Hopeful bump!

Sign him up for RNLI Stormforce! It’s a club with a quarterly brilliant magazine, with loads of things to do and learn, and it raises £££ for the RNLI:

rnli.org/support-us/become-a-member/become-a-storm-force-member

Lego Explorer is good.
It comes with a small Lego set each issue and the magazine will then be themed about whatever the build is. So the issue that came with a mini spaceship was full of facts, puzzles etc about space. The one with a frog was all about wildlife.
You say you live abroad - Lego explorer is also available one of the European countries (I forget which) so is in whatever language that is. I'm thinking Dutch? Might be wrong.

It's German...the other edition. Not Dutch.

My 4yo loves the Nat Geo Kids ones (they cost a bloody fortune so it’s a very rare treat). They don’t come with a toy but they are actually interesting to read!

We had an ‘Andy’s Amazing Adventures’ one recently that was good too.

@Needmorelego thanks, we are in Italy and it comes in Italian too! I usually travel with him though so I might order an English one to try.

good suggestions@SnappyTheCrocodile do you need to have seen the show to enjoy the adventures one?

What age is the Beano suitable for and does it have activities?

The Beano is aimed at children aged 6 - 12, and the vast majority of the content is stories (in comic strip style).
There might be one or two pages with an activities or puzzle, but it’s really one for kids who can read independently and like stories. And no free toys with the Beano.

My children enjoyed the Okido magazine at this age. It doesn't have glossy paper so you can write and draw in it easily.
If it's toys on the front that you are after the CBeebies magazines have toys and good activities inside.

There's a free Lego Life magazine for 5-9 year olds you can sign up for that comes quarterly through the post. It's only a short magazine and doesn't have free gifts but does have puzzles in

Numberblocks is great for this age. Lots of fun little maths games and you get the blocks to help with learning to count.

My 4 yo DS loves a magazine. Spidey and his amazing friends, Bluey, Andy’s adventures, Octonauts, GoJetters, Pokemon, Lego ninjago/marvel/Jurassic… all will have a free toy/gift and stories, puzzles etc.

Thanks for all the suggestions, lot of titles I didn’t know but that sound fun. I’ll going to order a selection for our next day of travelling.

Okido

@SnappyTheCrocodile did your four year old like the little kids version or just being read the standard kids version?

Came to add another vote for Numberblocks and Alphablocks - No need for reading, great for learning basic letters + maths... free toys, stickers simple activities etc.

my son loved the Numberblocks magazines when we were in the UK after he just turned 4.

Lego are good, but only if he already likes lego/can build etc.

Minecraft, National Geographic, Pokemon, etc. all fun, if he has existing interests in these areas.