About Chickadee

Chickadee

Chickadee is a Canadian monthly children's magazine published in Toronto, Ontario, by Owlkids. Founded in 1979 as a spin-off of OWL Magazine for younger readers, it serves children ages six to nine with puzzles, activities, stories, comics, and science content. It carries the ISSN 0707-4611 and its website is owlkids.com.

Overview

Chickadee is the middle title in Owlkids' family of children's magazines: Chirp for ages three to six, Chickadee for ages six to nine, and OWL for ages nine to thirteen. The chain was designed so children could graduate from one magazine to the next as they grow. Chickadee's content mixes puzzles, activities, stories, comics, jokes, and science features, with an emphasis on engaging young readers' curiosity about the world around them.

The magazine's total circulation was listed at 58,805 in 2017. It is published ten times per year (monthly during the school year), and its masthead lists a full editorial team including an editor-in-chief, science consultants, and educational consultants.

History

Chickadee was founded in 1979 (some Owlkids histories date it to 1978) as a spin-off of OWL Magazine, geared toward younger readers. OWL itself had been launched in 1976 by the Young Naturalist Foundation — OWL was an acronym for "Outdoors and Wildlife" — under the leadership of co-founder Annabel Slaight, a Member of the Order of Canada recognized for her work in conservation and children's publishing. The idea was to build a ladder of magazines: start children with Chirp (launched 1997), move them to Chickadee, and then to OWL.

Originally Chickadee was aimed at children up to the age of eight and focused on science and nature. Founding editor Janis Nostbakken created a mix of puzzles, activities, and stories, including recurring characters such as Henry the Pig and Daisy, the transforming heroine of the "Daisy Dreamer" comics. Over time the magazine's target ages shifted to six to nine, and it gradually became a more general-purpose children's magazine.

The magazine was originally published by the Young Naturalist Foundation. In 1997 Chickadee — along with sister publications OWL and Chirp — was purchased by Bayard Canada, which also owns French-language children's magazines including Les Débrouillards and Les Explorateurs. The company became Owlkids, which also operates a book division, Owlkids Books. In 2026 Owlkids marked 50 years in publishing.

Content

Each issue of Chickadee features a mix of puzzles, activities, stories, comics, jokes, and science content designed for six-to-nine-year-olds. Science features draw on consultants such as Science World British Columbia, and the magazine works with educational consultants to align its content with children's learning. Recurring characters and comics give young readers familiar touchstones from issue to issue, while reader-submitted projects and activities encourage participation.

Coverage & Audience

Chickadee's audience is Canadian children ages six to nine and their parents and teachers. With a circulation near 59,000, it reaches young readers through subscriptions and schools across the country. Its parent brand Owlkids describes its mission as creating content that engages, informs, and inspires a love of reading and learning — with an emphasis on reflecting a diversity of voices, communities, and experiences so all children can see themselves represented.

Ownership

Chickadee is published by Owlkids, a division of Bayard Canada, based in Toronto, Ontario. Bayard Canada acquired the magazine — with OWL and Chirp — from the Young Naturalist Foundation in 1997. The publisher of the Owlkids magazines is listed as Angela Keenlyside.

The Bayard Backstory

The 1997 sale that created Owlkids has its own history. Bayard Presse International of France — owned by the Assumptionists, the Augustinians of the Assumption, a Catholic religious order — bought Owl's publishing assets that year. With 18 children's publications and some $500 million in worldwide sales, Bayard was already the largest international publisher of children's magazines, and children's publishing was its global specialty. In Canada the ministry operates as Bayard Canada; its French-language children's titles Les Débrouillards and Les Explorateurs are the francophone counterparts of the OWL family.

The structure explains the magazines' unusual business model. A 1997 Strategy report on the Chirp launch noted that, like its siblings, the new magazine would carry no print advertising at all, generating revenue instead from a sponsorship program — with PlaySkool, the Hasbro Canada division, as the official sponsor for Chirp's first year. An ad-free children's magazine, backed by one of the world's largest children's publishers, is a proposition the commercial market rarely offers.

The Ladder: Chirp to Chickadee to OWL

The three-magazine ladder was a deliberate design, and its inventor described it plainly. "The idea was to make a chain of [magazines] so you would start kids with Chirp when they were young, and then they'd graduate to Chickadee, and then they'd graduate to OWL," Annabel Slaight told Canadian Geographic in a 2026 "Featured Fellow" interview. Slaight, a Member of the Order of Canada recognized for conservation and children's publishing, co-founded the Young Naturalist Foundation that launched OWL in 1976 — OWL standing for "Outdoors and Wildlife."

The bottom rung arrived in 1997. Chirp, founded as a comic book for ages three to six, was designed square like a child's storybook with thicker-than-standard pages for small hands, carried an animal profile in every issue, and tied into the interactive Family Channel craft show Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle with a crafts page in each issue. "When children master Chirp they can move on to Chickadee," the launch publicity said. Chirp later made its own leap to television: in 2012 Toronto animation studio Yowza collaborated with Owlkids and the CBC to develop a preschool series based on the magazine, airing on CBC Kids.

The characters cross the rungs too. A late-1990s Playback report on Owl's television ventures described a proposed half-hour live-action/animation series called Daisy Dreamer — based on Daisy, the transforming heroine of the "Daisy Dreamer" comics that founding Chickadee editor Janis Nostbakken created — about a girl who dreams she is various wild animals. The magazine's mascots were conceived as multimedia properties from the start.

The 1978 Price List

A 1978 directory of English-Canadian children's magazines captures Chickadee in its infancy: "Chickadee: The Canadian Magazine for Young Children. The Young Naturalist Foundation. (59 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B3), 1978 –. Monthly, September – June. 24 pp., $.95 per issue; $7.00 for 1 year; $13.00 for 2 years." Ninety-five cents an issue, 24 pages, ten issues a school year — the economics of a foundation-published children's magazine in the 1970s, and the format the title has kept, in essence, ever since. (Some Owlkids histories date the launch to 1978, others to 1979; the directory entry supports the earlier date.)

Fifty Years of Owlkids

In 2026 Owlkids marked 50 years in publishing — a half-century that a 2011 Globe and Mail feature, "OWL Survives in a Challenged Magazine World," had already found remarkable, as children's print titles folded around it. The 49th Shelf publisher spotlight that year framed the milestone around the book division, Owlkids Books, alongside the three magazines. Slaight, still active, told Canadian Geographic about her newest project — Future Chicken, a multi-platform initiative for ages six to ten connecting children with nature and countering climate gloom — describing it as starting over "exactly the same as when I was eight," with a small printing press getting children together to help the neighbourhood grow. The impulse that made Chickadee in 1978 is still the company's engine.

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is owlkids.com, which hosts magazine content, subscription information, and digital editions. Owlkids maintains digital editions of its magazines (including via its Uberflip platform) and a social media presence engaging parents, teachers, and young readers. The brand's history is documented in publisher profiles such as 49th Shelf's 2026 spotlight and in Canadian Geographic's profile of co-founder Annabel Slaight.