A nod to a classic.
Highlights for Children is preparing to release a new “hidden pictures” app featuring the magazine’s iconic puzzle game, which has educated and entertained kids (and sometimes their parents) for decades.
The 69-year-old magazine — with a circulation of over 2 million — has long been a staple in pediatricians’ waiting rooms across the country.
But now readers will have access to enhanced features and improved puzzles and games on the go after Highlights announced it is launching three mobile apps starting this winter as part of a partnership with the mobile tech company Fingerprint.
Highlights Editor-in-Chief Christine Cully told CNNMoney that the hidden pictures game has long been a “staple” for the magazine with “enormous staying power.”
She said the new app was only the latest in a series of enhancements the popular game has made as it’s “evolved over the years.”
“The world is changing and kids are increasingly on their own or their parents’ mobile devices,” Cully said. “If you want to be where the kids are, you need to go mobile.”
The company’s second app to be released will be called “My Highlights” and will offer personalized experiences — each child will be able to customize the puzzles, jokes, stories, quizzes, and videos they receive, based on their interests.
Both the “Hidden Pictures” and “My Highlights” apps will be subscription-based but will feature free limited-time trials.
A third app, as yet unnamed, will be released later next year and will allow kids to create their own stories and artwork and submit their creations and ideas to the magazine.
This app taps into an important component of Highlights’ tradition of allowing kids to engage with the magazine.
Fingerprint CEO Nancy MacIntyre told CNNMoney that kids send over 50,000 submissions, including stories, artwork and ideas, to the classic magazine every year.
Highlights has no plans to abandon print.
