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Planning
and Announcing Your Party
- First,
schedule the date and decide how long you want the
party to be. We suggest an hour, maybe slightly longer.
- Reproduce
the downloadable INVITATION below, and send them to
your family and friends.
Get
this Party Off the Ground!
- Decorate
with colorful balloons and streamers. Be creative!
- When
the guests arrive, pass out the downloadable NAME
TAGS below. Have tape and markers handy.
- Serve
refreshments! We suggest cloud cookies (sugar cookies
or even animal crackers), tornado tea (any kind of
juice), and, of course, Ms. Frizzle’s Magic School
Bus Surprise! We don’t know what it is, but we
know no party would be complete without it. (In order
words, use your imagination! Why should the guests
have all the fun?)
- It’s
hurricane time! The Magic School Bus is turning into
a hot-air balloon, and everyone can decorate it. You
can also help Ms. Frizzle’s wardrobe become even
more outrageous! Pass out crayons or colored pencils
and copies of the downloadable BALLOON COLORING SHEET
below.
- How
do we get information about hurricanes? With the weather
plane! Show everyone how to make (and decorate) their
own paper airplanes. Then line everybody up for an
airplane-throwing contest. Whose weather plane flies
the farthest? If you like, award a small prize to
the winner.
- Copy
the downloadable PUZZLE PAGE and SCHOOL BUS COLORING
SHEET below for party games!
Science
Activities
For
something extra, try two of Ms. Frizzle’s favorite
experiments -- straight from the pages of The Magic
School Bus Inside a Hurricane!
See
Hot Air Rise
How did The Magic School Bus get off the ground? In
a balloon - a hot air balloon! To demonstrate how hot
air rises, you’ll need paper, needle and thread,
and a small lamp (without a shade) that can be plugged
in on the floor or a low table.
- Cut
a spiral out of paper.
- With
the needle and thread, attach a string to the
top (small end) of the spiral.
- Hold
the spiral (by the thread) over the light bulb.
The warm air will rise and make the spiral spin!
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Make
a Twister in a Bottle
Get some clear bottles from the local recycling center
(bring them back there later) or ask your guests to
bring their own. Then have each guest follow these easy
steps (one or two kids at a time will be best):
- Fill
a bottle 2/3 full of water. (Add food coloring
for extra effect!)
- Hold
bottle over sink.
- Cover
opening with one hand and turn bottle upside
down.
- Move
bottle rapidly in a circle.
- Stop
circling. Take hand away from opening.
- See
a twister in the bottle as water runs out!
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Fun
and Games
Hurricane
Tag
Remind your guests that hurricanes start out small,
as tropical storms, and get bigger and faster as they
travel away from the equator. Choose one kid to be IT
(the tropical storm) and let the others run away as
in a game of tag. Whoever is tagged, however, then holds
hands with the first kid , becoming part of IT and turning
the tropical storm into a hurricane! Now two kids do
the tagging, and as more children are added, the hurricane
gets bigger (although only two kids at a time will have
their hands free to tag others). The last kid tagged
is the winner, and can be the tropical storm for the
start of the next game.
Make
a Rainstorm
Have the kids stand in a row or a circle, and explain
the motions they’ll be doing to simulate the stages
of a rainstorm. Start with rubbing hands together: first
point to one kid to begin, then to another and another
until everyone is doing the same thing. Then indicate
a kid to switch to rhythmic finger-snapping. While the
group continues to rub hands, first one kid and then
another will start snapping until, once again, everyone
is doing the same thing. In the same way, move on to
leg-slapping and lastly foot-stomping, before following
the same steps in reverse. Tell the kids to listen -
only if there’s no talking will they hear the real
sounds of a storm!
Be
Ready for Anything!
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