Magic School Bus Unit Study

magicschoolbus

My 6 year old loves Magic School Bus.  It has really fostered a love for science in her.  I’m taking a bit of that love and exploring the Magic School Bus science topics more in depth with her in the upcoming school year.  Basically, each Magic School Bus show is paired with a book and an activity.  I chose the books and activities based on what I thought my daughter would enjoy.  The books I chose tend to have more in depth information than what is presented on the show.   Sometimes I read books word for word and other times I use them as a discussion tool or I skip around based on my child’s interest.

I expect this study will take us more than a school year.  There are 50+ episodes, 50 or so books, and 50 activities or experiments.  Some will take longer than others, but I would say that the minimum is about 90 minutes for each topic.  My goal here is to cover a broad range of science topics and see where my daughter’s interests lead.

I’ve put links to the chosen books on Amazon if you want more information about them.  To choose the books, I checked out about 150 books from my local library and chose the ones that I thought suited my daughter the best.

I will likely jump around the different categories because some activities can only be done during specific times of the year.

Ecology

Watch Magic School Bus “Gets Eaten” – Food Chains (Season 1)animalhabitats
Watch Magic School Bus “Hops Home” – Animal Habitats (Season 1)
Watch Magic School Bus “Meets the Rot Squad” – Decomposition (Season 1)
Watch Magic School Bus- “All Dried Up” – Deserts (Season 1)
Watch Magic School Bus – “”In the Rain Forest” – Rainforest (Season 3)
Watch Magic School Bus – “”Gets Swamped” – Wetlands (Season 4)
Watch Magic School Bus – “”Goes to Mussel Beach” – Tidal Zones (Season 4)
  • Read A Tidal Pool by Steele
  • Build edible tide pool out of chocolate covered marshmallow rocks base and sides with blue jello water.  Invertebrates made out of candy inside the blue jello.
Watch Magic School Bus – “”Family Holiday Special” – Recycling (Season 3)

Botany

Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes to Seed” – Seeds (Season 1)

flowersandseeds

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Planted” – Photosynthesis (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes Cellular” – Cells (Season 4)

Animal Kingdom

Watch – Magic School Bus “Cold Feet” – Warm and Cold Blooded (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Butterfly and the Bog Beast” – Butterflies (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Ants in Its Pants” – Ants (Season 1)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Going Batty” – Bats (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “In a Beehive” – Bees (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Spins a Web” – Spiders  (Season 3)spiders
Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes Upstream” – Salmon Migration (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Cracks a Yolk” – Eggs (Season 4)
Watch – Magic School Bus “In the City” – City Critters (Season 4)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Takes a Dive” – Coral reefs (Season 4)

Human Anatomy and Physiology

Watch Magic School Bus “Inside Ralphie” – Germs (Season 1)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Flexes Its Muscles” – Body Mechanics (Season 2)
Watch Magic School Bus “For Lunch” – Digestion (Season 1)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Works Out” – Circulation (Season 3)germs
Watch – Magic School Bus “Makes a Stink” – Smell (Season 4)
Watch –  Magic School Bus “In a Pickle” – Microbes (Season 2)

Earth and Space

Watch Magic School Bus “Gets Lost in Space” – Solar System (Season 1)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Out of This World” – Space Rocks (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Sees Stars” – Stars (Season 4)
Watch – Magic School Bus “The Busasaurus” – Dinosaurs (Season 2)dinosaurs
Watch – Magic School Bus “Shows and Tells” – Archaeology/Rocks (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Kicks Up a Storm” – Weather (Season 1)
  • Read DK Eye Wonder Weather
  • Chart the temperature for 10 days using outside and inside thermometer in C and F.
Watch – Magic School Bus “Blows Its Top” – Volcanoes (Season 2)
Watch –  Magic School Bus “Wet All Over” – Water Cycle (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Rocks and Rolls” – Water Erosion (Season 3)

Physical Science

Watch – Magic School Bus “Ups and Downs” – Floating and Sinking (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Plays Ball” – Forces (Season 1)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Getting Energized” – Energy (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “In the Arctic” – Heat (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Charged” – Electricity (Season 4)flight
Watch – Magic School Bus “Gains Weight” – Gravity (Season 4)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes on Air” – Air Pressure (Season 4)
  • Read Science Alive Air
  • Do the egg in the bottle experiment from the Science Alive Air book
Watch – Magic School Bus “Revving Up” – Engines (Season 2)
Watch –  Magic School Bus “Taking Flight” – Flight (Season 2)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets a Bright Idea” – Light (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “Makes a Rainbow” – Color (Season 3)
Watch – Magic School Bus “In the Haunted House” – Sound (Season 1)

Chemistry

Watch Magic School Bus “Gets Ready, Set, Dough” – Kitchen Chemistry (Season 1)kitchen
Watch – Magic School Bus “Meets Molly Cule” – Molecules (Season 4)
Engineering
Watch – Magic School Bus “Under Construction” – Structures /Suspension bridge (Season 3)inventingthecomputer
Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Programmed” – Computers (Season 4)

6 thoughts on “Magic School Bus Unit Study

  1. This is great! My kids love the show too. We purchased the science packets but I love how thorough you are with the episodes and booklist. Thanks so much for sharing! You rock.

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