Product Description

The kids are all ears as they explore the musical mysteries of sound during a spooky trip Inside the Haunted House! Next, things really start Going Batty when a lesson about nocturnal creatures convinces Ralphie that Ms. Frizzle is a vampire! Finally, the kids are zapped into a monster movie, where they discover the ingenious hunting skills of spiders as Scholastic's The Magic School Bus spins a web!

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Take the Creepy Concentration Challenge; Compose music with The Music Maker; Spin a Paper Spider Web
Featurette:Learn more about sound, bats and spiders in Take a Field Trip Interactive Adventure
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41801 in DVD
• Brand: WARNERVISION
• Released on: 2002-08-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

Three Episodes, One Tape
This tape consists of three unrelated episodes, two of which are very good. The first is, "Going Batty," which reveals the amazing facts and myths about those wondrous creatures of the night. The second, "Spins a Web," shows us how different spiders hunt and catch their prey and is also very good. The third, "Inside a Haunted House," attempts to explain dynamics of sound on a preschool level. It's a complicated subject that was over simplified. The writers of this episode didn't seem to have a complete grasp of the subject themselves. It's an entertaining story but not as informative as the other videos.

Bats, Spiders and Haunted Houses (Oh My!)
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 Creepy, Crawly Fun! and it's excellent as always. These three episodes are:

*Inside the Haunted House - Acoustics and hearing
*Going Batty - Nocturnal creatures and echolocation
*Spins a Web - The life of spiders

There is also a few interactive and DVD-ROM features, by my son hasn't used those.

This CD runs about 90 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. And, my son seems to love Creepy, Crawly Fun--especially where Ms. Frizzle's voice is distorted!

Also, this would be a great DVD for Halloween time--especially since it's educational!

MSB Gives me the Creeps !!!
I was quite surprised at the quality of the programes, so much infomation on so many levels. Easily digested visually and verbally. It presents facts that are both sound and accurate for the range of age groups specified. As a teacher I can heartily reccommend the Magic School Bus series.
If you want to know more about bugs, bats and spiders this is one to have . I would also reccommend MSB Bugs,Bugs, Bugs!!! which is about Ants, Butterflies and Bees. Both of these DVDs are up to MSB's usual standard of excellence.