Magic School Bus Unit Study

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)

• Read What Are Food Chains and Webs by Bobbie Kalman
• Food Chain Checker Game

Watch Magic School Bus “Hops Home” – Animal Habitats (Season 1)

• Read DK Animal Habitats
• Play the Habitat Game online

Watch Magic School Bus “Meets the Rot Squad” – Decomposition (Season 1)

• Read Squirmy Wormy Composters by Kalman and Micro Life in Soil by Hyde
• Set up worm bin and observe how added items decompose over time.

Watch Magic School Bus- “All Dried Up” – Deserts (Season 1)

• Read Biomes Deserts by Erinn Banting
• Paper towel/ wax paper and sand project 

Watch Magic School Bus – “”In the Rain Forest” – Rainforest (Season 3)

• Read Scholastic Discover More Rainforest by Arlon and Gordon-Harris
• Rainforest feast – eat foods from rainforest 

Watch Magic School Bus – “”Gets Swamped” – Wetlands (Season 4)

• Read Wetlands by Snedden
• Go to local wetlands to observe plants and wildlife.

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)

• Read Waste and Recycling by Green
• Gather all the recycling around the house for the recycling truck

Botany

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

• Read Flowers and Seeds by Branigan and Dunne
• Plant 5 different seeds and watch them sprout

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Planted” – Photosynthesis (Season 3)

• Read Living Sunlight by Bang and Chisholm
• Read Photosynthesis by Kalman
• Cover up leaves experiment

Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes Cellular” – Cells (Season 4)

• Read Cells by Cohen
• Look at animal and plant cells under microscope and do cheek swab activity

Animal Kingdom

Watch – Magic School Bus “Cold Feet” – Warm and Cold Blooded (Season 2)

• Read Warm-Blooded or Cold-Blooded by Bobbie Kalman
• Visit local reptile/amphibian pet store

Watch – Magic School Bus “Butterfly and the Bog Beast” – Butterflies (Season 2)

• Read Our Wild Word Butterflies by Melissa Stewart
• Go to butterfly garden and observe butterflies/caterpillars

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Ants in Its Pants” – Ants (Season 1)

• Read Nature Close-Up Ants by Elaine Pascoe
• Make an ant farm

Watch – Magic School Bus “Going Batty” – Bats (Season 2)

• Read Bats by Mason
• Bat baby activity

Watch – Magic School Bus “In a Beehive” – Bees (Season 3)

• Read Buzz About Bees by Winters
• Make honeycomb pattern with ZomeTools

Watch – Magic School Bus “Spins a Web” – Spiders  (Season 3)

• Read Spiders by Seymour Simon
• Draw and label spider anatomy and

Watch – Magic School Bus “Goes Upstream” – Salmon Migration (Season 3)

• Read Salmon by Hirschi
• Go to local salmon run

Watch – Magic School Bus “Cracks a Yolk” – Eggs (Season 4)

• Read Egg by Burton
• Observe and dissect a chicken egg 

Watch – Magic School Bus “In the City” – City Critters (Season 4)

• Skim City Critters by Nicholas Read
• Take a walk and observe the wild creatures in the city.

Watch – Magic School Bus “Takes a Dive” – Coral reefs (Season 4)

• Read Coral Reefs by Seymour Simon
• Make coral out of sugar 

Human Anatomy and Physiology

Watch Magic School Bus “Inside Ralphie” – Germs (Season 1)

• Read What Are Germs? By Silverstein
• Read Fighting Sickness by Midthun
• Germ science experiments – washing hands and potato experiment

Watch – Magic School Bus “Flexes Its Muscles” – Body Mechanics (Season 2)

• Skeletal and Muscular System by Midthun
• Muscle activities

Watch Magic School Bus “For Lunch” – Digestion (Season 1)

• Digestive and Urinary Systems by Midthun
• Cut fabric to the different shapes of the digestive tract.  Glue on paper or posterboard to create an intact digestive tract.

Watch – Magic School Bus “Works Out” – Circulation (Season 3)

• Read Circulatory System by Midthun
• Heart valve project

Watch – Magic School Bus “Makes a Stink” – Smell (Season 4)

• Read Smell by Hurwitz
• Nasal cavity model made from molded Rice Kripie Treats and food coloring paint

Watch –  Magic School Bus “In a Pickle” – Microbes (Season 2)

• Read Micro Mania by Brown
• Petri Dish experiment with different surfaces around the house. Like this one.

Earth and Space

Watch Magic School Bus “Gets Lost in Space” – Solar System (Season 1)

• Read Our Solar System by Seymour Simon
• Make Solar System Model out of home-made playdough.  Mix them up and have them placed in the correct order.

Watch – Magic School Bus “Out of This World” – Space Rocks (Season 2)

• Read Destination Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors by Sparrow
• Incredible Edible Comet and this fact page

Watch – Magic School Bus “Sees Stars” – Stars (Season 4)

• Read Stars by Seymour Simon
• Go outside at night and identify stars and constellations seen.

Watch – Magic School Bus “The Busasaurus” – Dinosaurs (Season 2)

• Read Dinosaurs by Arlon and Gordon-Harris
• Make lifesize dinosaur footprint in sandbox
• Go to dinosaur museum

Watch – Magic School Bus “Shows and Tells” – Archaeology/Rocks (Season 3)

• Read National Geographic Everything Rocks and Minerals
• Play Rock On Geology Game

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)

• Read Volcanoes by Seymour Simon
• Make a volcano with a soda can and dough volcano 

Watch –  Magic School Bus “Wet All Over” – Water Cycle (Season 2)

• Read The Water Cycle by Bobbie Kalman
• Make rain in a jar

Watch – Magic School Bus “Rocks and Rolls” – Water Erosion (Season 3)

• Read Erosion by Riley
• Erosion experiment in sandbox

Physical Science

Watch – Magic School Bus “Ups and Downs” – Floating and Sinking (Season 2)

• Read Making Things Float and Sink by Gibson
• Explore floating and sinking using the Gibson book

Watch – Magic School Bus “Plays Ball” – Forces (Season 1)

• Read Force and Motion by Midthun
• Sliding Friction experiment

Watch – Magic School Bus “Getting Energized” – Energy (Season 2)

• Read Energy by Midthun
• Marshmallow energy activity

Watch – Magic School Bus “In the Arctic” – Heat (Season 3)

• Read Heat by Midthun and Hiti
• Ivory Soap expansion

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Charged” – Electricity (Season 4)

• Read Electricity by Midthun
• Snap Circuits

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gains Weight” – Gravity (Season 4)

• Read Gravity by Midthun
• Gravity investigation

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)

• Read The Inside and Out Guide to Mighty Machines by Clint Twist
• Explore http://www.animatedengines.com/

Watch –  Magic School Bus “Taking Flight” – Flight (Season 2)

• Read Flight by Hardesty
• Make 5 different paper airplanes and test them out

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets a Bright Idea” – Light (Season 3)

• Read Light by Midthun
• Explore Amazing Optical Illusions by Illusion Works

Watch – Magic School Bus “Makes a Rainbow” – Color (Season 3)

• Read The Science of Light and Color by Miller-Schroeder
• Rainbow science activities

Watch – Magic School Bus “In the Haunted House” – Sound (Season 1)

• Read Sound by Midthun
• Musical glasses

Chemistry

Watch Magic School Bus “Gets Ready, Set, Dough” – Kitchen Chemistry (Season 1)

• Read Kitchen Chemistry by Jon Eben Field
• Do Magic Colored Milk Experiment and Pepper and Water Science

Watch – Magic School Bus “Meets Molly Cule” – Molecules (Season 4)

• Read Matter and Its Properties by Midthun and Matter and How It Changes by Midthun
• Make a sugar molecule out of purple candies, red candies, toothpicks, and mini-marshmallows

Engineering

Watch – Magic School Bus “Under Construction” – Structures /Suspension bridge (Season 3)

• Read Bridges by Oxlade
• Play bridge construction app

Watch – Magic School Bus “Gets Programmed” – Computers (Season 4)

• Read Inventing the Computer by Groves
• Play Tynker and Scratch