In 1991, Mark Levine had an idea for a children’s magazine.
A magazine that would inspire kids to discover the world around them, and serve as a catalyst for a lifelong love of reading. The editorial approach would speak up to kids, not down to them. There would be no advertisements, ever. No solicitations for toys or candy. This would be a magazine to collect, to share, and to cherish over time.
30 years ago this month, Kids Discover Magazine was born. Our premier issue, Kids Discover Pyramids, arrived at over 100,000 households and pediatrician’s offices across the country. A business, a brand, and a passion were born.
This logo will appear on our site through the end of 2021 to help celebrate our 30th birthday.
When my father founded Kids Discover, I was only 6 years old. I never could have envisioned that I’d be penning this blog post 30 years later, nor the impact this company and its products would have on millions of children and families spanning three decades.
Reading and literacy have always been the foundation for Kids Discover. Great writing and design has always been our differentiator. But as we reflect on the past 30 years, we can’t help but envision the next 30 years, as we build on our strengths, and do our part to help re-imagine the future of education.
Starting later this month, we’ll be taking one of our biggest leaps ever, as a project years into development makes its debut, and launches the next chapter in Kids Discover’s storied history: Video.
To transform a spread of Kids Discover Magazine into an online article was challenging. But to transform a spread into a fully-narrated video is a whole other ball game. It took years of prototyping, production planning, and the adoption of new skills, software, and technology. But we’re finally ready for prime time, and we are so excited to share a few details.
These videos will be streamed directly through Kids Discover Online, and for the remainder of 2021, will be entirely free to view. You won’t need a paid subscription, you won’t even need to be signed in to your account. We know you and your learners will absolutely love them, and we can’t wait to hear what you think when they go live in just a few short weeks.
In addition to launching videos for this coming school year, we’re excited to expand our coverage of world geography with our upcoming Continents Series. Joining our Units on North America and Antarctica are 5 brand new Units covering Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America. Look out for an announcement in a couple of weeks once they are published on Kids Discover Online.
Additionally, this October we’ll be introducing interactive vocabulary activities that students can interact with directly on Kids Discover Online. These activities are designed to help students master new words that appear in the texts across our online library, and to make reading an active process that will further build comprehension at the same time.
As we move into realms beyond reading, everything we do still comes back to who we are. And that’s why I am excited to share our theme for this school year:
Don’t just read. Discover.
Finally, whether you’ve been part of the Kids Discover community for 30 years or 30 minutes, we are very grateful for your support. We’re so excited for you to continue on this journey with us, as we put our best foot forward, together, in the name of learning.
To 30 more years,
Ted
P.S. We’ll be celebrating our 30th birthday all Fall, so be sure to check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest as we share the moments, artifacts, and easter eggs of the past 30 years.
