iTunes App Review: “The Magic School Bus: Oceans”

The Magic School Bus: Oceans – Scholastic Inc.

Updated: March 1, 2011

ABOUT THE APP:

Seatbelts everyone! Go on a wild ride certified with Ms. Frizzle and class to explore ocean life on the iPad!

Based on the book The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, this interactive storybook app is teeming with science facts, videos, photos and games. In comic book style format, readers engage in an active reading experience as they discover plant and animal life, coral reefs, the ocean floor and more. Touch an animal in the ocean to watch a video or learn a fun fact. Every page of this fantastical Magic School Bus adventure features an interaction to extend the reading experience. When the reading adventure is complete, children can play a fast-paced game to earn points for more science facts and to travel to other areas of the ocean!

Features:

• Embodies the “open exploration” essence of The Magic School Bus – which encourages kids to “take chances, make mistakes…and get messy!”

• Takes more advanced facts from the book and brings them to life so kids can manipulate variables and see cause and effect in action.

• “Touch & Tilt” animated interactions make it easy for children to engage with the story:

– Touch the words to hear the story and then touch again to pause and touch speech bubbles to hear what characters are saying.
– Within 7 interactive science explorations, touch characters, animals or objects to watch a fun animation and see science concepts come to life.
– Tilt to see underwater bubbles that grant access to 26 real photos and 11 videos of underwater animals and plant life.

• Narration & Music:

– Features over 20 individual voices plus original music and sound effects bring the story to life – meaning you don’t have to know how to read to enjoy The Magic School Bus!

• Game:

– Features 1 highly re-playable game that includes over 20 animals in which children can play to earn points for more science facts and to travel to other areas of the ocean.

• Includes hundreds of facts about underwater life.

• Individual words highlight as they are read aloud to aid reading skills; settings options allow independent readers to turn off music and narration, access mini-games and go to a specific page in the story.

MY THOUGHTS:

I used to love Magic School Bus books as it really did make learning fun and interesting.  This app is just like a Magic School Bus book only its interactive and even shows actual animals with its facts.  You are basically reading a “The Magic School Bus: Oceans” but you can set the narration to read the book if you’d like and then just swipe to go to the next page.  On the pages you can click on the text boxes anad it will re-read it to you or you can click on animals to learn more.

There are also eight games to play which is a great bonus to the book!  The games also have an educational twist to them like the Coloring game has you color with “algae” to color the different corals which it shows pictures of.  There is a Go Fish! app where you have to drag the animals in order of the Food Chain, my boys are learning this one by smallest to biggest.  I actually really like these games myself,e especially the Into the Deep game, where you have to match 3 animals in a row before it reaches the top.

Overall, my family and I really like this app.  My boys get a high quality story book to listen to and explore and there are games that all of us enjoy.  There is also so much in this app that we have yet to get bored.  This app would also be great for older kids learning about the Ocean – I know I definitely learned a lot!

BUY IT: You can download The Magic School Bus: Oceans – Scholastic Inc. for your iPad for $7.99

Mom and More Disclosure: I received this app to review in exchange for my honest opinion. Please see my Disclosure Policy.