Happy Halloween! Spooky Science, Big Ideas and Amazing Adventures!

From mysterious creatures and Halloween fun to game design, football stars, incredible inventions and the future of technology — the October issue of MiniMag is here!

October brings a little extra mystery to MiniMag.

This month, you can journey to a strange island filled with creatures from Filipino mythology, discover why being scared can actually be fun, step behind the scenes of your favourite games, explore the forces hidden beneath your feet and meet young footballers competing on the world stage.

And that’s only the beginning.

The October 2026 issue of MiniMag is packed with science, technology, sport, maths, creativity, puzzles and fascinating things to discover. 374 October 2026

Journey to the Forgotten Island

What would you do if you landed on a mysterious island — and your memories slowly started disappearing?

In Forgotten Island, best friends Jo and Raissa find themselves transported to an island filled with creatures inspired by Filipino mythology. To make it home, they’ll need to face the island’s mythical inhabitants while trying to save something just as important: their friendship. 374 October 2026

The adventure also gives us the perfect opportunity to explore some of the fascinating legends and mythical creatures that have appeared in stories from the Philippines for generations.

[Image suggestion: Forgotten Island movie artwork or a colourful mysterious tropical island scene featuring hints of mythical creatures.]

Get Ready for Some Spooky Science

Halloween is almost here, so things are getting a little eerie!

But why do people enjoy being frightened when they know they’re actually safe? Why have creatures such as bats become connected with Halloween? And where did some of our favourite spooky traditions come from?

October is the perfect time to mix science, history, imagination and a little bit of mystery.

You’ll even discover why bats make such perfect Halloween animals: most bats are nocturnal, meaning they spend the day resting before emerging after dark. 374 October 2026

Could You Design a Video Game?

Playing a game is one thing. Designing one is something completely different.

In this month’s Game On!, we continue exploring the many careers behind video games by looking at the role of a game designer.

Game designers create rules, challenges and systems and then keep testing and changing them to make the experience more interesting. What happens if a player falls too far behind? Is something too easy? Too difficult? Or simply not fun?

Those are exactly the kinds of problems a game designer needs to solve. 374 October 2026

If you love inventing games, solving problems and asking “What would happen if…?”, this could be a career worth discovering.

[Image suggestion: A young game designer sketching a colourful level and game rules on paper while a simple game world appears around the sketches.]

Discover the Hidden Forces of Earth

There is an incredible world beneath your feet.

This month we dig into geophysics and discover how scientists investigate the forces and structures hidden inside our planet.

From earthquakes and volcanoes to the movement of the Earth itself, science gives us ways to understand things that we cannot simply see with our own eyes.

It’s a reminder that some of the greatest mysteries aren’t millions of kilometres away in space — some are right beneath us.

Meet Football’s Future Stars

Imagine representing your country on one of football’s biggest international stages before you’re even old enough to vote.

That becomes reality for some of the world’s most talented young players at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2026.

In October’s Playmakers, we celebrate the skill, determination and enormous ambition of the teenage footballers taking on the world. 374 October 2026

They may be young, but the stage is huge.

[Image suggestion: Teenage women footballers walking onto a brightly lit stadium pitch, viewed from behind with a huge crowd ahead.]

The Inventions That Changed Everything

Humans have always invented new ways to solve problems.

Some inventions helped us communicate across enormous distances. Others transformed medicine, travel and our understanding of the universe.

This month, you can follow some of those extraordinary ideas and see how one discovery can open the door to another.

Then we turn towards what might come next.

Artificial intelligence. Robots. Renewable energy. Electric vehicles. 3D printing. Space exploration. Missions to Mars.

Ideas that once sounded like science fiction are becoming part of the world around us — and some of the people who will decide what happens next could be reading MiniMag today.

Can Maths Help Feed the World?

Maths isn’t only something you practise in a classroom.

Numbers can help us understand some of the biggest challenges facing our planet.

In EasyMaths, Gami explores food security and discovers how maths and technology can help us understand food production and make better decisions about how we feed a growing world.

And once you’ve stretched your maths muscles, there are plenty more challenges waiting for you, including Sudoku, number puzzles, visual challenges and brain teasers. 374 October 2026

Plus, There’s Plenty More to Discover

October is packed with little discoveries too.

Learn about World Space Week, meet Australia’s underground engineer — the wombat — discover why an octopus needs three hearts, celebrate Ada Lovelace and the history of computer programming, and find out how animation tricks your eyes into seeing movement. 374 October 2026 374 October 2026

Add puzzles, facts, activities and a frightfully fun October calendar, and there’s plenty to keep curious minds busy all month.

 

Read MiniMag October 2026 Now

The October 2026 issue of MiniMag is out now!

Whether you love science, sport, games, technology, strange stories or simply discovering something you didn’t know yesterday, there’s something waiting for you inside.

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