National Geographic Kids

*National Geographic Kids*
	Cover of the June/July 2013 issue
Categories	Children's magazine and book
Frequency	10 per year
First issue	September 1975; 49 years ago
Company	National Geographic Partners; (The Walt Disney Company)
Country	United States
Based in	Washington, D.C.
Language	English
Website	kids.nationalgeographic.com
ISSN	1542-3042

National Geographic Kids (often nicknamed to Nat Geo Kids) is a children's magazine published by National Geographic Partners.^[1] In a broad sense, the publication is a version of National Geographic, the publisher's flagship magazine, that is intended for children. The headquarters of the magazine is in Washington, D.C.^[2]

History

In 1919, the National Geographic Society began its outreach to elementary schoolchildren with the launch of the National Geographic School Bulletin, which published weekly during the school year. In September 1975, it discontinued the Bulletin in favor of a new children's magazine, National Geographic World.

In October 2002, the advertising-free World was retitled National Geographic Kids and began accepting advertising. The first advertisers in Kids were The Walt Disney Company, Minolta, Nintendo, Scholastic Corporation, and Tony's Pizza.^[3] A spinoff, National Geographic Explorer, continues to focus on classroom use.^[4] In 2007, National Geographic Little Kids began publishing six times a year, aimed at preschoolers 3–6 years of age.^[5] In 2015, National Geographic Partners, a joint venture with 21st Century Fox, gained a controlling interest in Kids.

Circulation

National Geographic Kids publishes ten issues annually.^[6] As of June 2006, the magazine reports a circulation of more than 1.3 million in English, with an estimated English language readership of more than 4.6 million. There also are eighteen editions of National Geographic Kids in different languages instead of English, published in Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Lithuania, Benelux, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The magazine is written for children between the ages of 6 and 14. It has an advisory board of 500 subscribers and solicits reader feedback after each issue.^[1]

Both the English and Afrikaans editions published in South Africa were converted to digital-only in June 2020. It had published in print for 16 years.^[7]

Features

These are some of the regular features, most of which appear periodically,

Amazing Animals
Fun Stuff (formerly called "Kids' Express")
The Inside Scoop (formerly called "World News")
Kids Did It!
Go On Safari!
What in the World? (this is one of the two features to appear in every issue)
Video Game Central (formerly called "The Next Level")
Weird But True (which later became a Disney+ original series, Weird But True!)
Cool Inventions
Stupid Criminals
Just Joking (this is the other of the two features to appear in every issue)
Sports Funnies (comical pictures of people in sports)
Guinness World Records
Wildlife Watch
Unleashed (a comic strip about three house pets by Strika Entertainment)
Naughty Pets (funny photos of pets behaving badly)
The Green List
Bet You Didn't Know (similar to Weird But True, but issue seasonal)
The Big Book Of Why
Quiz Whiz

Anniversary issues

The 25th anniversary issue in September 2000 was well publicized. It featured a "Top 25" list of the things readers most enjoyed (the magazine covers were #1) a collection of cards people had sent to the magazine, and a special "Kids Did It" column that featured updates on the lives of celebrities who had been featured in the magazine when they were children, such as Michelle Kwan.

The 30th anniversary issue in September 2005 featured an article describing what life might be like in thirty years (in 2035). It also featured thirty "cool things" of the future.

Spinoffs

National Geographic Kids Almanac

In 2009 the magazine launched its first almanac, National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010. In 2010 the almanac continued with an updated book, National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011. There have been new updates to the almanac issued annually since then.

National Geographic Kids World Atlas

A series of world atlases has been published under the National Geographic Kids brand:

National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 1st Edition
National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 2nd Edition
National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 3rd Edition (2010)
National Geographic Kids Student World Atlas, 4th Edition (2014)^[8]
National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 5th Edition (2018)^[9]
National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 6th Edition (2021)

Television

In 2017, National Geographic Partners launched the Nat Geo Kids pay television channel in Latin America and the Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi free-to-air satellite channel. Both channels shut down by 2022.

Notes

^ ^a ^b "National Geographic Kids Media Kit". Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2006.
^ "Contact Us". National Geographic Kids. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
^ "In October, a new "World" dawns for "National Geographic Kids."". Media Industry Newsletter. Vol. 55, no. 33. Potomac, Maryland: Access Intelligence. August 26, 2002. p. 1 – via ProQuest.
^ "Explorer Magazine, The National Geographic Society's elementary, digital classroom magazine". National Geographic Society Support Center. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
^ Abadie, Elaine R. (December 2011). Historical Overview of Children's Magazines. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Master of Arts thesis). University of Mississippi. p. 28.
^ Laura Robb (2000). Teaching Reading in Middle School. Scholastic Inc. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-590-68560-3. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
^ "National Geographic Kids magazine drops print". marklives.com. Eastern Cape, South Africa. June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020. Creature Media, publisher of National Geographic Kids in South Africa, has announced that the magazine will be switching from print to digital editions in both English and Afrikaans for the foreseeable future.
^ "National Geographic Kids Student World Atlas, 4th Edition - Softcover". Shop National Geographic. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
^ "National Geographic Kids World Atlas, 5th Edition Softcover". Shop National Geographic. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.