The Magic School Bus - Dinosaurs and Reptiles product reviews

The most surprising part of this DVD was the part where I found out that reptiles don't have sweat glands. I thought that 'Gets Cold Feet' was cool because the class turned into reptiles and the bus turned into an alligator, or should I say, Busigator. The reason I enjoyed the parts where the kids were reptiles was because my favourite animal is a snake which is a reptile. It was exciting to find out that reptiles need to find heat to warm up and somewhere cold to cool down because as well as bears and squirels, reptiles hibernate!

In the episode 'The Busasaurus', my favourite part was when the bus turned into a time-travel machine and sent the class back 67 million years where they met more plant-eaters than meat-eaters along the way. There was one part that really disgusted me and that was when the third dinosaur they met tried to feed them berries that have been chewed and spewed, just like a penguin does with fish. I found it unusual that the producer showed that, instead of the T-rex being the most dangerous dino that ever walked the earth, it was a big scardy-cat when it faced an Arnoldasaurus (if you know what that is). This DVD is so good, you'll want to travel back in time to watch it again.

This time around the Magic School Bus helps Ms Frizzle's class discover everything they can about reptiles and their larger cousins the dinosaus.

In Gets Cold Feet the class journeys to Herp Heaven, and discovers all about current day reptiles. I really thought this was an excellent episode as it really helped explain to the kids what a reptile is and what makes them so unique from the other species on the planet. The information is presented in clear and easy to understand language and in such a visual way that it makes it easy for the kids to understand exactly what they are being told and to retain that knowledge. It also makes it a really fun learning experience.

The second episode is The Busasaurus. In this one Ms Frizzle takes her class to a dinosaur dig. Once again the information in this is really great and well presented to the kids, from the meaning of the word dinosaur, all the way through to the fact that most dinosaurs were actually herbivores and of those that were carnivores most of them wanted an easy meal rather than having to fight for it.

This is another excellent addition to the Scholastic Magic School Bus series and is of course a brilliant learning tool.