ADVERT: Brilliant Brainz Magazine Review

May 14, 2019

How many times have you walked into a supermarket or newsagent with your children and they’ve asked for you to buy them a magazine?

It’s a regular occurrence for us, and occasionally we do let our seven year old twins use their pocket money to buy a magazine each, however the problem I have is that they tend to buy the magazine just for the toy that comes with it not for the actual magazine itself. I imagine this is something a lot of children do!

The thing that bugs me the most though is the cheap plastic toys that come with these magazines. They usually break within minutes of them being taken out of the packaging and they tend to only be played with for a short amount of time before children lose interest in them. It also annoys me how much plastic packaging the magazine and toys come in. It’s so wasteful.

In addition to this, magazines tend to be expensive, gender stereotypical, and when you look at the content inside them it’s usually a huge disappointment.

As a family who are conscious of our impact on the environment, we’re keen to discourage our children from buying these magazines and instead direct them towards a magazine that has a bit more substance.

Brilliant Brainz is a subscription magazine that’s packed with fabulous content, activities, fun facts and challenges that will get your child’s brain buzzing, and there’s no cheap plastic toy in sight, hooray!

Each magazine covers the following subjects: Art, Philosophy, Music, Food & Nutrition, Science & Nature, Books & Entertainment, Apps & Tech.

We were sent four issues of Brilliant Brainz magazine to review.

Each magazine has a theme. We were sent magazines about animals, recycling, happiness and change.

Inside issue number 5, which is about animals, there is an art project based upon William Blake’s poem, The Tyger. The idea is for children to illustrate the poem and there’s a step by step guide for children to follow.

I really like how this project is teaching children about William Blake in a fun and creative way. By reading the poem and then thinking about their own interpretation of it, children can learn so much from it. There’s also a page dedicated to William Blake which talks about his work.

Brilliant Brainz is a gender neutral magazine. There’s no princesses for girls or superheroes for boys like with most magazines. It’s very interactive with quizzes, recipes, art projects, science experiments and more. I also really like that there are no adverts.

Issue number 7 focuses on change. By sitting down with their parents and looking through the magazine together it encourages children to ask questions and allows parents to open up a discussion with their children about each topic.

For example, on page 10 children are asked to think about if anything has changed for them so far that day. Examples such as the weather and mood are given to encourage children to think about this. Children can then write down their own thoughts or draw a picture about things that change for them in their lives.

I think that Brilliant Brainz is a really great, unique magazine for children. It was created by Eleanor and is aimed at children aged 6-12 years old.

Eleanor started Brilliant Brainz for two reasons. The first is that the narrow focus on Maths and English in primary schools and the emphasis on exams means there is so little time for subjects like art and music – even less for creative thinking. You will know how imaginative children can be and how they benefit from being introduced to a broad range of subjects at a young age. So, this is one of the things Eleanor set out to do and I think that she’s really achieved this with Brilliant Brainz.

Issue 6 focuses on happiness.

This issue encourages children to think about what happiness is, whether we can measure it, if we can expect it to last and how important it is to feel other emotions as well. There are some great activities to do such as the one pictured below where children can ‘grow their own happiness’.

My favourite issue is number 4: Learn the three Rs. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

This issue is all about encouraging children to help look after the planet and asks children to take on the ‘No Sugar Challenge’ in a bid to lead a healthy lifestyle.

This ‘A Hug In A Bowl’ recipe sounds delicious and only uses a few ingredients, most of which you can grow yourself!

Our twins really liked the recycling page with recycling quiz. It’s full of information about what can be recycled and used again, along with things that can’t easily be recycled.

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, Brilliant Brainz is a subscription magazine.

Subscriptions start at just £3.99 a month which I think is really good value.

Our twin girls really enjoyed reading these magazines and they’ve certainly learnt a lot from them. I overheard them talking to their nanna about William Blakes ‘The Tyger’ poem. I think doing the art project alongside this really helped them to absorb the information.

Overall, we think that Brilliant Brainz is a wonderfully educational, engaging and fun magazine for children. It’s full of useful and important information, as well as lots of activities to keep children entertained.

Exclusive Reader Offer

Click here to learn more about Brilliant Brainz magazines and use the code TWINM for a 15% discount on any 6 or 12 month subscription. Code valid for two months.

For the purpose of this review I was sent four issues of Brilliant Brainz Magazine and compensated for my time in writing this review. All views are 100% my own.

10 Comments

  • Henry Elliss

    May 14, 2019 at 4:47 pm

    Whilst these definitely look like much better reading material than some of the tat in the supermarkets, I’m not sure the pedant in me would let me child read a supposedly-intellectual magazine that spells “BRAINS” with a Z on it!! 😀

  • Sarah-Marie Collins

    May 17, 2019 at 8:45 am

    They look brilliant. I really like that there are no adverts in them too and the content looks really high quality too. #ThatFridayLinky

  • Enda Sheppard

    May 17, 2019 at 9:37 am

    They look really impressive, what a simple but brilliant idea … all in the excellent execution. #ThatFridayLinky

  • Louisa

    May 17, 2019 at 10:37 am

    Like you I get frustrated with the magazines that are on offer in the shops. They are expensive and full of useless plastic gifts. This magazine is a brilliant alternative. The content is engaging and it is so much more affordable than the ones I have seen in the supermarket. #thafridaylinky

  • Sam

    May 17, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    Looks fun and great to have activities to keep kids entertained X #thatfridaylinky

  • Jo (A Rose Tinted World)

    May 17, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    These look fun and educational. And yay to no plastic toy! #ThatFridayLinky

  • Josie – Me, Them and the Others

    May 17, 2019 at 1:39 pm

    These look sooo much better than the tat they sell in the shops! #thatfridaylinky

  • John Adams

    May 17, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    Oh those awful plastic toys. And I can see my youngest weighing up each comic to decide which toys she prefers best. Great to see someone else trying to publish something with more worth. I may well have to take a look at Brilliant Brainz. Thanks for hosting #thatfridaylinky and well done on the Marathon run

  • This Scribbler Mum

    May 17, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    I agree about the supermarket magazines being too pricey for what they are. These magazines look good. Thanks for sharing. #ThatFridayLinky

  • Jo – Mother of Teenagers

    May 18, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    Oh those were the days Emily! I can remember them so well when my teens were younger and pestered me to death for every magazine on the planet and yes the curse of the plastic toy. I like the look of these magazines – anything that keeps them engaged with interactive articles and is simultaneously educating would definitely tick my box. Have to agree with your other linker though the misspelling of Brainz is beyond irritating and unnecessary. Great review. #ThatFridayLinky

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