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Find a New Love this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is almost here. My mom always gave me Valentine’s Day cards and a small box of candy, so we give our kids cards and candy as well. However, it occurred to me that with classroom Valentine Day parties and the like, this starts to translate into a lot of candy. So this […]

“Pen Pals” Takes On a Whole New Meaning with our “Global Community”

Exposing kids to the wider world has become more than just a cute exercise informally taken on via a pen pal. These days, it’s an opportunity that every child needs to experience if they are to succeed in our increasingly global economy. If you are a teacher at a public, private, or home school […]

Reducing the Word Gap

Did you know that “the single-best predictor of a child’s academic success is not parental education or socioeconomic status, but rather the quality and quantity of the words that a baby hears during his or her first three years?” According to Why Boosting Poor Children’s Vocabulary Is Important for Public Health, by age three, “85 percent […]

Chinese New Year: Time to Monkey Around

February is a busy time of year for my family. With a majority of the household involved in Kung Fu, and our Kung Fu school seemingly unable to turn down any request, we spend most of the month shuttling to and from Chinese New Year celebrations. The school (and thus my family) participates in lion […]

Invent It Challenge Week 4: Create It!

The 2016 Spark!Lab Invent It Challenge is finally off and running. This year, kids ages 5 to 21 need to identify a real-world health problem and come up with a solution to the problem. Each entry must follow the seven step invention process spelled out by our partner, the Smithsonian’s Spark!Lab. For the next 7 weeks or so, […]

The Best of The Slam

Every January, Cicada rings in the New Year with Best of The Slam. The Slam is our online writing forum; it’s a space to post poetry, short fiction, critiques, encouragement, and supplications to the Great Miffed Emu (patron bird-saint of The Slam, known for its beneficence toward online writers and its lack of tolerance for […]

Valentine’s Day: Spread the Love

One of the most beloved features of our magazines are the gorgeous, creative, high quality illustrations that fill up each issue, created by amazing and talented artists. For more than 40 years, we have seen imaginative young readers respond enthusiastically to not only the wonderful stories we feature, but by the world-class illustrations that accompany them. By including stories, […]

Celebrating Black History Month Through Literature

by the ePals Team February is Black History Month. A great way to celebrate and learn more about the achievements of African American’s is through the pages of a book. Lucky for millions of kids, there are so many books to choose from, that one is sure to capture your interest. There are books […]

Invent It Challenge Week 3: Sketch It!

Taking the Challenge Out of Discussing the Challenger Disaster with your Kids

It was thirty years ago today that the space shuttle “Challenger” exploded on lift-off, killing everyone on board. The destruction of the Challenger remains one of those events in history that people talk about with profound reverence. Most people who were alive back then can remember exactly where they were, what they were doing, and […]