20 May 2021

Cyw, S4C's service for the channel's youngest viewers, has been entertaining and educating young children (not to mention making life easier for parents) since it was launched in 2008.

And now, there's a brand new addition to the service, Cylchgrawn Cyw (Cyw magazine).

Cyw and her friends will be the stars of this colourful magazine, which will be launched at the beginning of Eisteddfod T on 31 May.

Its 48 pages will be packed with fun activities suitable for young children up to the age of six.

Alongside the magazine, a special website will offer translation of all the content – giving non-Welsh speakers the opportunity to hear the stories read in Welsh.

A team of six teachers from Carmarthenshire have worked with publisher Peniarth to ensure the content is educational, but also fun and appealing to young children.

The team are Llio Dyfri Jones and Kiri Thomas from Ysgol y Dderwen, Carmarthenshire; Rhian Davies, Ysgol y Ddwylan; Maureen Williams, Ysgol Teilo Sant and Meleri Jones from Ysgol Bro Banw, who are all Foundation Stage teachers, and Catrin Evans-Thomas, who is a Lecturer with Rhagoriaith, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

And there has never been a better time for a publication like this to appear, according to Llio Dyfri Jones:

"One thing we've seen over the lockdown periods is that children's digital skills have developed immensely, which is certain to be beneficial as they develop educationally.

"However important these digital skills are, it needs to be emphasized that it shouldn't at the expense of children's basic skills.

"We saw that some children hadn't held a pencil or crayon during lockdown.

"But by using Cyw characters – characters they have seen 'digitally', whether on iPad or TV screen, we hope that Cyw and her friends will entice the children to colour, cut, be creative, develop thinking and observing skills, as well as their language skills."

"It's a fun magazine and it covers a lot of things that I hope will appeal to young children aged 2 – 6 years old.

"I've been able to trial some of the content with the children in my class, and it was lovely to see their enthusiastic response."

The magazine will go on sale on 31 May, and you can buy a copy from the Peniarth website; www.peniarth.cymru or from your local Welsh bookshop.

The cost of the magazine is £3.99, but you can now subscribe to receive an issue every term for a year from September onwards for £15.