Amazon.com: Carlos and Phoebe can't decide if spiders are cool or creepy. Then, the kids are magically transported into a drive-in movie about a giant praying mantis. When a mad general takes Liz prisoner to use as mantis bait, Mrs. Frizzle turns the Magic School Bus into a spider. Together, the kids must try different methods for rescuing Liz and trapping the bad guys. In the process, they learn many fascinating facts about different kinds of spiders, including trap-door spiders and web-spinning spiders. They gain a new respect for nature's best trappers. As Mrs. Frizzle says, "The spider that snares the best, fares the best!" --Elisabeth Keating
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Excellent
As an introduction to our spider unit, I show this awesome video to my developmental kindergarten class. They are "hooked" from the moment it starts. Science facts are presented in an interesting and easy-to-understand format. They love this video and often ask to see it again.
Rating: - entertaining and educational
I like the whole Magic School Bus series because it is educational without lecturing, yet it is not annoying like some other children's "educational" videos. This one about spiders is particularly good because it shows how these animals are beneficial to humans. At the end they have a section where they explain what in the video were facts and what were "pretend". It is the type orf show I want my daughter to watch.
Rating: - not too good for small kids
My daughter (2 yrs old) loves all kinds of bugs, picks them up, etc. I got her the Magic School Bus movie on the Bees and the one on the Butterflies. She loved them. This one was a disappointment though. I like spiders, and I had the 'Itzy Bitzy Spider' song in mind. But this video portrays spiders as ugly monsters, whose only rediming quality is that they are 'good trappers'. Also, a large part of the movie shows the drive-in film the class is watching, about a giant insect that is being fought by the army. This part does not teach anything, is very long, and is in black and white.
Rating: - What kinds of traps do spiders use?
This movie is a great movie for young children with an interst in bugs. Did you know that you are never more than three feet away from a spider? Did you know there are many different kinds of spiders that build different kinds of traps? This movie does a great job of educating and entertaining at the same time.
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