Sample Issues of Nature Friend Magazine

We appreciate your interest in Nature Friend and welcome your review.

A quick overview:

Nature Friend is a Creator-honoring nature magazine the whole family can enjoy. Children may participate in many ways. Even Grandpa can sit in a rocker and suggest captions for the “Caption This” photograph.
No external advertisers subsidize your subscription, so your purchase buys magazines, not ads. Even though we do not have advertisers (and postage rates rise almost every year), we’ve been able to hold your cost to about the same as one gallon of milk per month.
Stanley and Janice Brubaker started Nature Friend in January 1983. Since May 2006, the Kevin and Bethany Shank family have been publishing the magazine from their home in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

You may review several sample issues here and then purchase a subscription online or call 877-434-0765. If you prefer, you may order a sample issue for $8.50.

July 2021 Nature Friend and July 2021 Study Guide.
March 2020 Nature Friend and March 2020 Study Guide
May 2020 Nature Friend and May 2020 Study Guide
June 2020 Nature Friend and June 2020 Study Guide
September 2020 Nature Friend and September 2020 Study Guide

We encourage participation by readers. Most features appear in each issue, though some are in approximately every other issue. Features include

Pictures and Poems – Drawings and poetry submitted from the readership.
You Can Draw – Each issue has a drawing lesson of a bird, animal, or some other nature topic, as well as children’s drawings from a previous lesson.
Invisibles – A drawing with numerous objects hidden within it.
Stories – Character-building, Creator-honoring. Colorful photos typically illustrate stories and articles. Any artwork illustrations are realistic rather than comic drawings.
Puzzles – May be submitted by readers.
Scavenger Hunt – We hide two (or more) related objects somewhere in the magazine. Inside the front cover you will see what the objects are; however, they can be any size or color where they are hidden.
Learning by Doing – A craft project or science experiment.
Creation Close-ups – Nature photos taken by readers.
“The Heavens Declare” and “In Our Skies” – Astronomy-related articles appearing every other month.
Caption This – Approximately every other month we feature a photograph we expect to use on the back cover of an upcoming issue. We invite you to submit your caption for the photograph. We will use one or several of the captions when we feature the photo on the back cover.

We plan several special issues throughout the year.

Story Contest

The May issue is a “Story Contest Issue.” We choose three stories from each of four ages brackets: 6-8; 9-11; 12-14; 15-17. These winning selections receive an assortment of awards from various sponsors. In 2018, awards came from Nature’s Workshop Plus, Christian Light Publications, and Nature Friend. Besides the assortment of awards, the grand prize of a Vortex binocular was awarded to one submission.

Readers’ Issue

The June issue is a “Readers’ Issue,” and is compiled from cover through cover using submissions from readers. Your artwork, photography, stories, articles, art lesson, puzzles, and projects are used to make up this issue. Many of the main features receive an assortment of awards from various sponsors. In 2018, awards came from Nature’s Workshop Plus, Christian Light Publications, and Nature Friend. Besides the assortment of awards, the grand prize of a Vortex binocular was awarded to one submission.

Bonus Readers’ Issue

We usually run an unannounced bonus readers’ issue in the fall. We compile this issue from overflow submissions received for the June Readers’ Issue.

Additionally, overflow material that doesn’t make these three special issues continues to be considered for any of the other nine issues throughout the year.

Other Contests

We run other contests too. Some we have run include: Birdhouse contest, flower planter contest, flower bed contest, and birding contests. We give awards.