Product: Magic School Bus: Grow Amazing Polymers (Group Pack)
Made by: Scholastic
Use: Group project, Homeschool Co-op Activity, birthday parties, or camps
Description:
Ms. Frizzle and her students take Young Scientists on a wild ride with The Magic School Bus GROW AMAZING POLYMERS group pack. This kit provides enough materials for 30 students and is great for the classroom, after-school programs, science enrichment, boys and girls scouts, camps, and a MagicSchool Bus birthday Party! Young Scientists grow super balls, snow, rainbow beads, crystal gels, and polymer flowers while learning about the importance and science of super-absorbent polymers. This kit comes with 30 colorful manuals that are based on the popular Magic School Bus tv and book series. Seatbelts everyone! Get ready to Grow Amazing Polymers.
Our Group’s Thoughts
If you want to see a room full of excited children (of multiple ages) then bring out The Magic School Bus: Grow Amazing Polymers. They could not be happier to study science. Most kids are familiar with the cartoon, The Magic School Bus, and would love a chance to be a part of Ms. Frizzle’s classroom. Even children who are not familiar with the cartoon will instantly fall in love with the characters.
We began by passing out the manuals. The manuals contain all the information on each experiment from the materials needed, the theory, and an explanation of the results. The kids loved the colorful manuals and immediately began picking out the experiments they wanted to start. We decided first thing is first and began with the first experiment. Having used The Magic School Bus science products before, I knew that the kits are well thought out and normally there is a logic to the order of experiments. This kit was no different as a few experiments use items from a previous one.
Some experiments take hours to overnight to see the results. We kept those experiments together (hung on the line you see in the picture above) then continued to work on others with immediate results. At no time did the kids want to stop experimenting or get bored! It was a raving success! Many asked if we could give them more supplies to do the experiments again at home.
The kids voted making snow and growing rainbow beads as their favorites. The snow experiment amazed the kids and they enjoyed just playing with it for awhile. We actually took time out to talk about snow. We tused the snow to create a habitat for Arctic animals out of a shoebox. That was on a whim once we completed the experiments. I love a product that has multiple uses and inspires more creativity. Even the rainbow beads and growing polymer flowers got the kids excited a out future lessons.
Comments from the participants:
This is fun! I love science! -Alyssa, 7
The easiest science co-op activity yet and it was so much fun for everyone. -Mom of child who attended
My kid is still talking about it. Do they make more group packs? We need to do this every month. -Mom of child who attended
Overall:
-Experiments were engaging and easy to prepare for the adults and carry out for the kids.
-The directions were clear and easy to follow.
– The supplies provided were of high quality and everything you need save common household items to perform each experiment.
-We expect science to be messy but it is always nice when the clean up is easy as with this group pack.
-Fun! Learning should be fun, engaging, and evoke a sense of curiosity. We saw all of that during our time with this group pack.
– Perfect for multiple ages. From 3 years to 14 years old, we had nothing but delighted children. We allowed the older children to help the younger ones. The kit is recommended for kids five years and up. Be careful if you break the rules, like me who allowed my 3 year old to participate.