APRIL 2024

“There are many ways to dance—and a pen can make a fun partner. For this month’s contest, put on some music you like, grab a pen, crayon, or paintbrush, and let your fingers dance beautiful patterns across the page. Send us your dance-infused drawing, and we’ll fill a dance hall with the most delightful in an upcoming issue of ASK.”

Contest rules:

1. Your child’s contest entry must be their very own work. Ideas and words should not be copied.
2. Be sure to include your child’s name, age, and address on your entry.
3. Only one entry per person, please.
4. If you want your child’s work returned, please help them enclose an addressed, stamped envelope.
5. Your child’s entry must be signed or emailed by yourself or another parent or legal guardian, saying it’s their own work and that no one helped them, and that ASK has permission to publish their work in print and online.
6. For information on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, see the Privacy Policy page at cricketmedia.com.
7. Email a photo or scan of your child’s artwork to: ask@cricketmedia.com. Entries must be emailed by April 30, 2024.
8. We will publish the winning entries in an upcoming issue of ASK.

APRIL 2024

“It’s April, and spring is in the air! With the return of warm weather, all the bugs are starting their gardens and frolicking through fields of newly blooming flowers, behaving like, well, April fools. For this month’s contest, all the frolicking fools would love to read your best story about—anything you like.

Your ideas might be inspired by the stories in Cricket. Perhaps “The Exodermis Protection Suit” will inspire you to write a story about an encounter with an alien extraterrestrial whom you find in an unexpected place. Or you might celebrate Earth Day with a story about a community cleanup project, or making your family or school more climate-friendly. Maybe “Stage Fright” will inspire you to write about accomplishing something you weren’t certain you could do, or about overcoming a fear. You might begin by filling in the blank for a story with the title “_____ Fright.” You could even write about befriending a frolicsome horse like Freyfaxi, or about a kid in another time or place who studies to become a seer, like Kadlin, or a wizard.

Whether you write about an April Fool’s Day joke, a tiny flying saucer that lands in your backyard, or leading a campaign to help the environment, everybuggy will be tiptoeing through the tulips in a dance to welcome spring, as they await your best story about anything you like—of 350 words or fewer—to sprout from the Cricket Country mailbox. Tra-la-la!”

1. Your child’s contest entry must be their very own original work. Ideas and words should not be copied.
2. Your child’s entry must be signed by yourself or another parent or guardian, stating that it is their own work, that no help was given, and that CRICKET has permission to publish it in the magazine and on our website.
3. Be sure to include your child’s name, age, and full address on their entry.
4. Only one entry per person, please.
5. If you want their work returned, enclose an addressed, stamped envelope for each entry.
6. Your child’s entry must be received by April 30, 2024.
7. Send entries to cricket@cricketmedia.com
8. We will publish winning entries in the September 2024 issue.

APRIL 2024

“Great apes can play games, use tools, and show emotion. And the more we observe them, the more we learn. Who knows what other human-like behaviors we might discover? Draw or paint us a picture of a great ape doing a human task, silly or realistic. Maybe an orangutan ordering an omelet? A bonobo banging the bongos? Whatever you think up, send us your artwork, and we’ll fill a forest with your amazing apes in an upcoming issue of MUSE.”

APRIL 2024

“Write a poem about an underwater animal.”

Here are the only rules:

1. Your child’s entry must be signed by yourself, another parent, or legal guardian, authorizing its publication in print and/or online and saying it’s their own idea.
2. Be sure to include your child’s complete name, age, and address.
3. Your child’s entry must arrive by April 25, 2024. We will publish our favorites in the September 2024 issue of SPIDER.

Email your child’s entry to spider@cricketmedia.com.