When my son was four, I was fortunate enough to visit Calgary Alberta during the Calgary Stampede. This experience was wonderful for me, especially because it helped me put to rest some of my Easterner’s prejudices/ fears about Westerners (i.e. that they hated everyone from Toronto). I found people in Calgary to be very friendly and welcoming and the do-it-yourself attitude very refreshing. It was a treat to see so much civic pride and community involvement in a place as big as Calgary. In Toronto, there are so many causes to support and groups to belong to, I had never seen a city united to support a single event before.
One of the best things about my trip was taking my son to the Royal Tyrrell Museum/ because of his interest in dinosaurs. His plan, at age four, was to move to Alberta, get a chinchilla for a pet and dig for dinosaurs. He knew he would have to be careful with the chinchilla. As a desert rat it might get away and never come back. He planned to come and see me during his holidays.
Now eight, my son’s interests have extended to archeology and I’ve found a good kids’ magazine on the subject. Published in partnership with Archeology Magazine, Dig is so interesting, I find myself dipping into it at the breakfast table, despite my usually good table manners.
Dig is aimed at school-aged children from about the age of eight. The reading level for some of the articles is fairly high but this is appropriate for a specialized magazine. There are theme-related crafts, reports from the field, stories, reader questions answered by “Dr. Dig” and drawings by readers. The variety is good, the pictures glorious and no one article runs too long. I recommend it for any child seriously interested in ancient history or archeology.
Happy reading!