WhizzPopBang

image from www.whizzpopbang.com via google image search

WhizzPopBang is the title of a science magazine aimed at children. Rather than being a factual magazine, or full of advertisements, it is packed with simple experiments, stories, interesting facts, puzzles and more. 

Reading that I feel as if I am trying to sell it to you, when in fact I have cancelled our subscription and have only one more magazine left to receive. This is not to say we won't re-subscribe again in the future, it is just that our children get fed up of having the same magazines/activities available so we often change over.

This month's magazine is all about water. A fairly simplistic topic you may think, but today alone, my eldest daughter - the only one interested in any formal or led learning of any kind lately- has learnt about air pressure, water tension, steam engines, the molecular structure of water and carried out two experiments with water by herself. She has also entered their competition and completed all the puzzles in the magazine and is half way through the quiz at the end. 

Today's experiments have seen water walking and a normally very nervous 8 year old holding 500ml water upside down in a glass watching in amazement as the paper stays 'stuck' to the glass. 

Not only this, she has also dug out our old How it Works book and learnt- through mammoths- about nuclear power stations, how steam is used in fossil fueled power stations and even watched a TED talk about the boiling river in the Amazon. My youngest watched the TED talk too and was answering questions about the river and volcanoes too. 

There are still a few more things to do in the magazine as well as the rest of the quiz which we will complete as and when she is interested - we are child led most of the time here- and plenty of interesting facts in the How it Works book too.

Each month, the publishers email you with an equipment list for the forth coming issue so you can be prepared before it drops on your doormat. I love this added thought that they give their subscribers as how many times have you been caught out with other magazines or websites that look amazing, but you haven't got and cannot find the needed ingredients or apparatus when your children are still interested? That has not had to happen once with WhizzPopBang thankfully.

I have days when I wish my children were more open to structured learning, learning together and could all access the same topics together, and days when I feel more confident in the knowledge that they bring their own interests to me as their parent, carer and educator, seeking deeper knowledge and understanding, which I can then direct and support. The fact that my daughter didn't need to complete the puzzle today and could answer the clue given boosted my confidence in the way we educate them all.

The magazine is available from here: https://www.whizzpopbang.com/