Magazines as learning tools

Periodicals with children as their target audience can be traced to the 18th century. These magazines were mostly published in Europe and North America, and the material consisted of morals and instructions on how to live ‘good’ lives. The nature of the content switched to stories, folk and fairy tales in the 19th century and the modern children’s magazine and comics came into being in the early 20th century. This evolution of children’s periodicals followed that of the notion of childhood in society, as well as, the recognition of the potential profit in this sector. In India, the early half of the 20th century was when children’s magazines began to be published. Amongst the earliest children’s magazines were Anand (Marathi), Sandesh (Bengali), Balarama (Malayalam) and Chandamama (Telugu and Tamil). From the 1970s onwards, magazines for children found a firm footing in India