Customer Reviews

Magic School Bus - Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My daughter, who is 5 yrs old and now wants to be an entomologist, loves this dvd! IN A BEEHIVE taught her how the bees communicate and how honey is made. In GETS ANTS IN ITS PANTS she found out about the life and WORK of an ant colony. And in her favorite, BUTTERFLY AND THE BOG BEAST, she learned about camouflage for survival. The best part is that they put these three all on a DVD. The one complaint I have is that the episodes are not listed on Amazon in the description so I also ordered the vhs BUTTERFLY (its the same as on the dvd).

The previous reviewer summed up the stories on this DVD very well so I will only add that all of the MSB shows are great (especially when compared to what else is out there).

I started watching these with my children when they were two and four. Sure they miss out on some of the finer scientific fine points, but I am *sure* that they are gaining a foundation in a variety of scientific topics. Things that we can *build upon* later.

For example, I couldn't find my car keys and I asked my 5 year-old daughter if she had seen them. She then began gyrating around-much to my confusion. When I asked her `what the heck ` she was doing, she answered that she was `dancing' out the directions to them the way that bees do. LOL.

In any case, after watching this show, we go outside and 'dissect' some flowers. Or we do something like grow beans in a glass cup so that what we have seen in the show is reinforced.

Five Stars. Top notch Edu-tainment.

I homeschool (unschool) my son, and the Magic School Bus series is GREAT for teaching kids science. We have 4 DVD sets and a few VHS's.

If you're unfamiliar with the premise, the central characters are Ms. Frizzle (a teacher), her class, Liz the lizard and the Bus. Ms. Frizzle takes her class on crazy field trips, where Bus--and sometimes the kids!--experience a transformation so they can get closer to the action. (For example, become a bee or turning into water droplets.)

One of our most recent purchases was Bugs, Bugs, Bugs! and it's excellent as always. These three episodes are:

*In a Beehive - Exploring bee behavior and a beehive
*Gets Ants in Its Pants - Learning about the industrial world of ants
*Butterfly and the Bog Beast - Metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly

There is also a few bonus features:

*Bug Challenges
*Find the Camouflage Butterflies
*Ant Olympics

This CD runs about 82 minutes and is supposedly geared towards children 3-8. Personally, I think the age-appropriate range is more like 6-10 because of the complex concepts introduced.

However, if younger kids enjoy it--more power to them! It certainly can't hurt to introduce science to younger kids if the Magic School Bus holds their interest.

My 8-year old son really enjoys the series now (he didn't get into it when he was younger), so I use the Magic School Bus series to supplement our learning/experimenting with science principles.

The Magic School Bus created some of the finest products for instruction, while completely disguising this fact to many of its young learners. Children exposed to the vast array of offerings in the field of science at young ages are still in possession of this information today. The original manner in which the students contribute information via their personalities and curiosity mix with our children's own natural instinctive curiosity about the world in which we live. Topics from this series include concepts as specific as mold and the manner in which it can help and hinder us, to as broad as the vast solar system, and systems beyond. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs is a title uniquely dedicated to the many insects and their many purposes common to our world. The only downside is that the series has apparently long been discontinued.

My son (6 years old, diagnosed with autism) absolutely loves this series of dvds. His thirst for both tv and knowledge is satisfied with this eclectic teacher, magic school bus, and well rounded group of kids.

As an adult, I enjoy the dvds. They're interesting and educational - full of fascinating facts that you never knew. Plus, Lily Tomlin is the perfect Ms. Frizzle.

These are well written and acted (voice) enough to keep children engrossed. There is enough drama and humor throughout to keep it from ever feeling like they're being forced to learn something useful - but they are!

They're also excellent tools to open discussions about nature, bees, how caterpillars turn into butterfly's and they explain way better than I ever could.

Another added bonus for me personally is that my son has loads and loads of anxiety. These informative dvds educate him about things such as bees and take the fear out. He's not even afraid of spiders after watching "creepy, crawly fun."

I highly recommend for all children.

My son got this for his 4th birthday and he watches it over and over. He just loves this series.

Both our 4 yr. old and 8 yr. old LOVED this series! We thought the bees were most interesting, but the ants and butterflies were good too. Magic School Bus did their usual fantastic job of infiltrating lots of info into 3 distict and fun story lines too. GREAT!!!

My 5-year-old loves this. What a great learning tool--he's been spouting bug facts since. My 2-year-old loves it too. She's not a t.v. kid but this one keeps her rivited to the screen. Never too young to learn!

this was a great seller.... fast shipping and the product was exactly as described... thank you!!!!

My daughter is only 4 years old but loves the Magic School Bus series of DVDs. The shows are highly educational and I make a point of watching the DVDs with her so that we can discuss interesting topics. This DVD covers bugs, and contains three episodes:
"In a Beehive" - Ms Frizzle and her class discover all about bees and how they make honey.
"Gets Ants in Its Pants"- the class discovers the life cycle of an ant and how industrious ants are
"Butterfly and the Bog Beast" - how caterpillars change into butterflies

Ms Frizzle's learning principle "Take chances, make mistakes and get messy" is hilariously portrayed throughout the episodes. The language is pitched at the right level for young children, and my 4-year-old was able to follow the episodes without much explanation.

These shows make science appear fun and interesting, as it is, and encourages children to explore and learn new things. I highly recommend the Magic School Bus series to all children for their high educational value and their ability to make learning fun.