Magic School Bus Whales And Dolphins [Old Version]

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000059ZYS
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 6, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,745 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #74 in Software > Children's Software > Science & Nature
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The ever-versatile Magic School Bus shines its high beams into the watery world of whales and dolphins with this lightly educational and moderately entertaining CD-ROM. The format should be familiar to anyone who owns any of the other Magic School Bus programs: players explore inside the bus with Ms. Frizzle's guidance, or go outside the bus, this time into the briny deep, to learn more about whales.

This program dutifully provides a plethora of whale factoids, but some of the activities lack inspiration. "Cetacean Rotation" is a puzzle game with a fancy name. "Spot That Whale" is a simplistic point-and-click matching game where speed counts more than memory. Rescuing a baby beluga from a maze riddled with fishing nets and hungry orcas is quick work. A drawing station with minimal creative options merely takes up space. Despite three levels of play, older kids are likely to churn through parts of this program like a blue whale churns through krill. Games that engage the brain a bit more include "Whale Scales," where players can compare the weight and length of cetaceans to other objects and critters (one blue whale equals 30,000 house cats) and "Spout Off," a game show with questions that will stump some parents. Other bright spots include gorgeous still photos, and video and audio clips of sea mammal wonders like humpbacks echo-locating and Dahl's porpoises arcing along the bow of the boat--all narrated in Ms. Frizzle's know-it-all trill, of course.

Graphically, Magic School Bus Whales and Dolphins looks better than some of the other Magic School Bus offerings, and the program ran quickly, with no glitches. But if your 10-year-old wants some cold hard facts about whales for a research paper (like how many pounds, not house cats, a blue whale actually weighs), they may need to dive a little deeper than the Magic School Bus does in this program. (Ages 6 to 10) --Anne Erickson

Amazon.com Product Description

Have a whale of a time with Ms. Frizzle and her class as you join them on a field trip to the Pacific Ocean. With The Magic School Bus Whales & Dolphins Activity Center, kids ages 6 to 10 experience whales and dolphins up close and personal, and find out where they live, what they eat, and other amazing science facts. There are plenty of activities to keep kids entertained, including art activities, arcade-style games, and science experiments. Kids learn important science concepts through activities hosted by characters from the Magic School Bus TV show. The activities strive for an equal balance of fun and learning, to satisfy kids' desire for fun and parents' desire for education.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor Value for Money, September 12, 2001

By 

Paul Ward (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic School Bus Whales And Dolphins [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Don't be deceived. This is not a full-fledged Magic School Bus CD, but is just an activity center. The Magic School Bus CDs fall into two categories: full-fledged exploration programs and activity centers. The full-fledged programs are excellent and represent good value for money. My oldest (age 6) spends hours exploring with MSB Oceans, Animals, Solar System, and Dinosaurs. They are great. On the other hand, he is quickly bored with the Activity Centers, such as Whales and Dolphins, Flight, and Mars. They simply present one screen with things to click on. Since a full-fledged MSB CD has half-a-dozen or more places to explore, the activity centers represent less than 1/6th the value of a full-fledged MSB CD. Don't buy them unless you get them for less than 1/6th the price of the full-fledged CDs, which means don't pay more than [price] for them. They are not worth more.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter both love it, January 19, 2002

By 

Ingrid "ingrid_in_nc" (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic School Bus Whales And Dolphins [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

My two children play this together, have a lot of fun, and come up with interesting facts about whales and dolphins. I even saw the two of them looking at a book about whales and quizzing each other on the type of whale shown in the pictures. We thought it was a good value, and it convinced me to buy more of the MSB software.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent learning tool, October 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Magic School Bus Whales And Dolphins [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

My daughter is a dolphin fanatic. She has been in love with
these magnificent creatures since the age of 3 (she is now 7).
She is also very into science and loves the entire magic school
bus series. We have 3 magic school bus cdroms and this is by far her favorite. As with all of the magic school bus books,
videos and cdroms it teaches the children in a fun way.
they think that they are just playing, but they are learning.
This was proven when my son, then 3, told his whole pre-k
class about the differnces between toothed whales and baleen whales and also informed everyone that dolphins and whales use
echolocation to find food! This is a great game!