The Magic School Bus Lands on Mars Included in The Magic School Bus Bonus Pack Vol 3

Publisher: Scholastic / Microsoft

Ages 6 to 10

Ratings:

4.5 from SuperKids

Based on the Best-Selling Books and Hit TV Show!

Be part of Ms. Frizzle's™ crew, as you investigate the red planet's amazing surface, hear cool facts about Missions to Mars, and see color photographs. Play games like Mind Over Mars, build your own Mars Rover, send real Post Cards from outer space, and more!

	Send a Postcard from Mars Create and print out your own post cards - using photos of Mars, letters and numbers, and stamps of Ms. Frizzle™, Liz, and the kids.
Did you know that Mars is drier and dustier than any place on Earth? See How Much You Know about Mars and Earth in Mind Over Mars.

Features and Activities:

Build your own Mars Rover! You control the landscape, daylight, number of wheels, and power source - then watch how well your Rover runs.

Challenge Liz in Race Your Rover!

Guide the Mars Lander to the surface of Mars.

Be a part of Ms. Frizzle's class with D.A., Arnold, Wanda and Tim.

Create and print your own Crew Pass.

Learn cool facts about mars, Earth and the Solar System, and build critical thinking skills.

3 levels of fun and learning in every game.

Re-assemble fascinating Space Photo Puzzles to see the sights and learn fun facts.

Requirements:

Windows: Pentium 166 MHz or higher, 16 MB RAM (32 MB required for Windows Me or 2000 (64 MB RAM recommended for Windows 2000)), 15 MB free hard disk space, 4x CD-ROM drive, SVGA - 256 color video, 16 bit sound card.

Macintosh: iMac, iBook or Power PC 233MHz or higher, OS 8.1 or later, 32 MB RAM (64 MB RAM recommended for System 9 or later), 15 MB free hard disk space, 4x CD-ROM drive, 256 color monitor.

Reviews:

SuperKids

"Magic School Bus Lands on Mars is an exploration and discovery program, not a tutorial or drill-and-kill program. Users are presented with a multitude of click and explore opportunities, with no required path. For example, inside the Magic School Bus, users can click on objects and see experiments demonstrating the effect of different air pressures on common objects. (Our young reviewer especially liked comparing the outcomes of different pressures on a marshmellow.) Outside the bus, geologic and geographic features are available for exploration. Collectively, the Mars factoids presented do a very good job of describing the red planet."

"Magic School Bus Lands on Mars continues on in the same style as earlier titles focusing on Animals, Bugs, and The Earth. Using the kid-familiar characters and setting from the popular educational television series, this program draws young users into a factoid exploration and discovery session. Several arcade-style games supplement the discovery opportunities with the chance to exercise eye-hand-mouse coordination. The two our users liked best (a Mars lander, and a Mars rover) weren't educational, but they weren't violent, either. A Mars fact quiz show also proved surprisingly popular."

Kids Domain Review by Jane Guild

"As always, The Magic School Bus delivers quality software that kids love. The Magic School Bus Lands on Mars is no exception. From the first log-on screen where kids are prompted to make a crew pass with both realistic and wacky options, children are involved in the learning process and drawn in to an exciting world of learning. There are two arcade style games, each with multiple levels to test thinking skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning. Stunning photographs from Mars make up a puzzle game as well as a postcard creator. Ms. Frizzle and her class relate interesting facts about Mars, and several experiments show children exactly what things like atmospheric pressure are about.

"Not only does The Magic School Bus Lands on Mars have familiar characters, but using open-ended activities this title could be used by children much younger than the stated 6-10 age range, as well as keeping options open for repeat play. Bright and colourful animation, up-beat background music, clickable objects and random animations make this a fun program just to look at, let alone play. Ms. Frizzle offers advice and direction if there’s a pause in play, and the familiar school bus format is easy for kids to use and understand without the need for reading skills."

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