Among the religious/inspirational magazines, several take "ordinary" children's stories as long as they have a moral grounding (something that also tends to be true of many of the secular children's magazines). Among these would be Guideposts for Kids and Pockets (these just happen to be two of my favorites though I know of people who have sold ordinary stories to other religious markets.) Secular magazines would include Highlights (a top market but they do use stories with a "message" -- meaning stories where the main character learns something through the plot.), Ladybug, Cricket, Spider (they are actually fine with little or no message but have a more literary tone), Hopscotch, Boys' Quest, Fun for Kidz (they take slightly "old fashioned" stories -- and they use themes), Appleseeds, Cobblestone, Calliope (these are history and World Cultures magazines and use themes, so stories must fit -- they don't buy a lot of fiction but they do buy some), Turtle (who along with the other CBHI magazines likes stories with a health slant but they are only buying rebus stories and...maybe poetry, I would have to check. Anyway, the CBHI magazines aren't buying much these days.) Wee Ones, Story Station, American Girl (viciously tough market), Boy's Life (makes American Girl look like an easy market)...there are probably more but my brain can only kick out this many without more tea. You can find dozens of links to magazines and guidelines at
http://www.kidmagwriters.com in the upper right Market Guide. Several of the magazines also have an editor interview listed and a special report that looks at the contents of a sample issue.
All of the stories I write are pretty ordinary as I am not a religious writer but I find there are actually more than enough markets -- what I need are more hours in the day for writing.
gran