Highlights High Five vs Highlights Magazine

Where they differ

Both are activities and books & magazines clubs. They cover the same ground, so the decision comes down to how each one does it rather than what it is.

On price there is effectively nothing in it — $47.50/year against $47.50/year, which works out within a dollar a month of each other. Price is not the deciding factor here.

The age ranges differ too: Highlights High Five is pitched at ages 2–6, Highlights Magazine at ages 6–12. Match the reading level rather than the birthday — a child who cannot yet read the letter alone needs an adult in the loop either way.

What each one sends

Highlights High Five

A monthly print magazine for preschool and early-primary children with read-aloud stories, rhymes, simple puzzles and craft activities. Like its older sibling it is a magazine, not a letter club, but it is one of very few options that reliably reaches the under-fives.

Highlights Magazine

A monthly print magazine for school-age children with stories, puzzles, hidden pictures, craft ideas and non-fiction features. It is a magazine rather than a letter club — no personalization and nothing to write back to — but it is the cheapest reliable way to get something in the mail for a child every month.

Which one to pick

We are not going to pretend there is a winner here — they are close enough to be on the same shortlist, which is why this page exists. What we would say is that the choice usually turns on the household rather than the club: how much adult time there is, whether the child reads independently yet, and whether you want post that asks something of them or post that simply arrives.

Read the full listings before deciding, and follow through to each club's own site — prices, terms and gift options are theirs to change and ours only to record.