A newspaper made for your child, every day
Their world. On paper.
Little Headlines makes a newspaper for your child every day. The real news, told so they understand it, around the things they love. You print it at home. No screen, no scrolling, nothing to feel guilty about.
Free. For iPhone. Invite only for now, in Australia, Ireland and the UK.
Informed
They know what is going on.
The real stories of today and yesterday, home first and then the world, told so they understand what happened and why it matters.
Theirs
It is about them, so they read it.
Their name on the masthead, their sport, their town’s weather, their week. A paper they want, not one they are told to read.
Unplugged
Paper ends. Screens don’t.
Nothing to scroll and nothing that plays next. When the last page is read, it is finished, and they go and do something else.
And you read every paper first. Nothing reaches the table until you have looked it over, so you know exactly what they are reading.
Look inside
Four pages of their world.
Every paper is written fresh, for one reader. This is a sample for Ruby, who is eight, lives by the beach and loves netball and horses.
Today is
Friday. Netball after school!
Take your water bottle. The courts will be warm today.
Go Ruby!
Tomorrow is
Saturday. Nana’s birthday!
Sunny all day. Perfect for a picnic in the park.
Ruby by numbers
Weather in Kiama
A sunny day for netball. Then rain on Sunday, so pack a raincoat.
Fact of the day
An octopus has three hearts!
Two pump blood to its gills, and one pumps it around the rest of its body.
In today’s paper
- Page 2: A bigger library, clever crows, and chapter 3 of The Lighthouse Cat
- Page 3: Cricket is back, netball hoops, a horse fact
- Page 4: Pinch and Chips, crossword and a joke
Home news | Yesterday
A bigger library is coming
The people who run the town have said yes to making the library twice as big. There will be more books, more computers and a garden where you can sit and read.
Some people voted no. It will cost a lot of money, and they think it should go on other things, like fixing roads.
Why does it matter? Towns only have so much money to spend. Deciding what to spend it on is one of the biggest jobs a council has. What would you spend it on?
World news | This week
Crows think faster than you!
Scientists tested how fast crows make choices about what they see. The crows made up their minds about twice as fast as people.
So next time a bird grabs your chips at the beach, now you know why you never win.
In brief
- Space: A new weather satellite went up this week. It will take a photo of the whole Earth every ten minutes.
- Netball: Summer competitions start in towns all over the country this month.
- Animals: Whale watching season is nearly over. The last humpbacks are heading south.
The Lighthouse Cat | Chapter 3
The light goes out
Mo the cat had lived in the lighthouse for six years, and the light had never once gone out. Until tonight.
Out at sea, a little fishing boat was chugging towards the rocks. The keeper was fast asleep. Mo jumped onto his chest. Nothing. Mo knocked his glasses off the table. Still nothing.
There was only one thing left to try…
Real or made up? Lighthouses are real, and some really did keep cats to catch the mice. Mo is made up. Chapter 4 on Monday!
Cricket | This weekend
The cricket season is here
Cricket clubs all over the country start their junior games this weekend. Most clubs let you try it for free, so it is a great time to have a go.
Did you know? A cricket ball has cork in the middle, wrapped tightly in string, with a leather cover that is stitched by hand.
Netball | Ruby’s sport
Why every goal has to be perfect
A netball ring is 3.05 metres off the ground. That is the same height as a basketball ring, but netball has no backboard.
So every shot has to drop straight in. The best shooters practise hundreds of goals a week.
Try it: how many goals in a row can you get at training tonight?
Ruby’s weekend
Saturday 9 am: Netball, under 9s, court 3. Sunny and 27°, so pack a hat and lots of water.
Myth of the day
Pandora’s jar
Pandora was told never to open the jar. She did, and all the world’s troubles flew out. She slammed the lid just in time to keep one thing inside: hope.
Horse corner
Sleeping standing up
Horses can lock their legs so they can doze standing up without falling over. For deep sleep they still lie down, but only for a few hours a day.
All the answers are in today’s paper.
Across
2 An octopus has three of these (6)
3 Mo lives in a light_____ (5)
Down
1 These black birds think fast (5)
Quick quiz
1. How high is a netball ring?
2. What is the lighthouse cat called?
Brain buster
A crow decides twice as fast as you. If you take 6 seconds to pick a lolly, how long does a crow take?
Joke of the day
What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? A dino snore!
Answers. Crossword: 1 CROWS, 2 HEARTS, 3 HOUSE. Quiz: 1) 3.05 metres 2) Mo. Brain buster: 3 seconds.
- Today and tomorrow. Tell the app about their week, like netball on Fridays or a birthday on Saturday, and it leads the front page.
- Their numbers. Days old, heartbeats, days until the next big thing. Worked out on your phone, so their birthday never leaves it.
- Weather for their town. Five days, with their plans written on each day.
- A fact of the day and a contents box, like a real paper.
- The big news, at home and in the world. Real stories from the last day or two, retold for their age, with a line on why it matters.
- Facts from several trusted news sites, in its own words. You can see every source in the app.
- A story in chapters. A ten chapter serial with a cliffhanger each time. Skip a day and it simply waits for them.
- Real or made up? Each chapter ends by telling them which parts are true.
- The sport they follow. Pick their sports, teams and players, and the paper follows them.
- A corner for what they love. Horses, scooters, Lego, space. Whatever they are into this month.
- A myth of the day from Greek, Norse and other old stories.
- Something to try, so the reading carries on off the page.
- Pinch and Chips, our own comic strip, a crab and a seagull at the beach.
- A crossword made from today’s stories, so the answers are in the paper.
- A quiz and a brain buster, with the answers upside down at the bottom.
- The sea today. Tides, sunrise and sunset for coastal towns.
- A joke of the day, never the same one twice in a year.
A sample paper. Real papers carry the real news of the day.
How it works
You make it in the app. They read it on paper.
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1
Add your reader
Their first name, birthday, town and what they love. Add their week too, like swimming on Wednesdays, and it turns up in the paper.
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2
Make today’s paper
One tap. It picks the day’s stories, writes their paper at their reading level, checks every story and lays out four pages. About a minute.
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3
Look it over, then print
Read it first. Not quite right? Tell it why and get a new one. Then print to your home printer, any time of day.
Our promises
Good for them. Nothing hidden.
Why it exists
Made at our kitchen table.
I started making a newspaper by hand for my two kids. They read every word, asked for another the next day, and started asking me questions about the world.
Little Headlines is that paper, made properly, so other families can have it too.
Michael, Central Coast, New South Wales
Questions
Who is it for?
Children in primary school who are reading on their own. You set the reading level, and each child in the family gets their own paper.
Do I have to print it every day?
No. Make one whenever it suits: before school, after school or at the weekend. Stories and chapters carry on from wherever they left off.
Is the news suitable for young children?
Every story is retold for their age, and upsetting stories are left out. You also read every paper before it prints, and can ask for a new one.
Who writes the paper?
An AI writes each paper from news sites we trust, in its own words, and a second check reads it before you do. Every paper lists its sources in the app.
What do you know about my child?
As little as possible: a first name, their town, their interests and their reading level. Their birthday stays on your phone, and the AI is never told their name. See our privacy policy.
What do I need?
An iPhone and any home printer. The paper is four A4 pages, designed for black and white. It is free.
Give them their world, on paper.
We are inviting families a few at a time, in Australia, Ireland and the UK.