I received a complimentary The Young Scientists Club Magic School Bus Wonders of Nature kit in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.
Have you ever checked out The Young Scientists Club kits? They’re pretty awesome! Jacob is really into science. It’s kind of surprising, really. Both his father and I were always terrible at math and science. I think he must get the genes from my grandfather, he was awesome at that stuff. I’m really fortunate (and a little jealous) that Jake is one of those kids who loves just about everything. He enjoys reading as much as he likes science. That’s one thing I love about The Young Scientists Club kits- they combine the two in such a seamless way.
Jacob received the Magic School Bus Wonders of Nature kit from The Young Scientists Club. He’s been a fan of the Magic School Bus book series since I bought him his first one back in Kindergarten. I know the series has been around forever, but can you believe I don’t remember reading it as a child? I remember hearing about the magical bus that can shrink, grow, go back in time and survive inside a volcano, but I don’t think I read them when I was little.
How exactly does it combine reading with science? Well, our kit came with a booklet filled with different experiments. In order to do the experiments, you have to read the directions. More than that, though, the experiments explain the why behind the task using characters from the series. It’s so much more than just a list of directions. It’s actually an engaging experience!
Magic School Bus Wonders of Nature
The Young Scientists Club Magic School Bus Wonders of Nature kit has a ton of different scientific activities for kids to do. The kit comes with everything you see here:
There are tons of different activities to do! The first one we tried was the animal track casting kit. See that pawprint mold up there? You use the included sand and plaster to create your own animal track. I tried taking pictures of this whole process, but they didn’t quite come out right. What I love about the plaster kit is that you don’t end up using all the sand, so you can reuse it for other experiments on your own.
The second one we tried was Phoebe’s Activity, the life cycle of an ant. This was an easy task. It involved looking at the stickers and matching them up to the right shapes. We also learned- thanks to the Magic School Bus style tidbits of info- that ants don’t have ears! Instead, the feel the vibrations in the ground through their feet. Even an experiment as simple as this one provided great educational value.
Our absolute favorite activity was the scavenger hunt! I have always enjoyed this activity and was excited to do it with Jacob. The sheet lists 20 different things to look for in your environment. If you live in the city, I suggest heading to a local park for this one. We practically live in the woods, so we were able to find most of the items pretty easily! Some of the items on the list are needed for other experiments. The sheet tells you which, so when you find them you can grab them. We had a hard time finding three different types of flowers because all the flowers died already. Luckily, the sheet has several columns so you can do this activity more than once. Which brings me to the feature that I really, really love about these kits: they don’t all have to be done in one sitting! This is a kit that will last us until Spring with some of the activities.
Connect with The Young Scientists Club Kits
Check out The Young Scientists Club website to see all the other amazing kits they offer. Aside from the Wonders of Nature kit, they also offer 17 other Magic School Bus kits. Not a Magic School Bus fan? That’s fine! They have dozens of other cool activity kits, including Clifford kits for younger children and The Young Scientists Series for kids ages 6-12. I also HIGHLY suggest liking The Young Scientists Club on Facebook. Every week, they feature new science experiments for your kids to do! Check them out on Twitter too so you can keep up with great deals. They also started a new Pinterest page that really needs some love, so please give them a follow there. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be pretty spectacular!
