Product Review: Magic School Bus The World of Germs and Glo Germ
The world right now is a confusing and scary place. Our kids have had their schedules completely changed and they can't even depend on home to be a normal place as many parents have had to turn to working from home, declaring certain areas or times to be work zones. They may suddenly have to have video classes and are may be hearing new words like pandemic. For those interested in teaching about germs, we have tested two different products.
Magic School Bus The World of Germs
I grew up with the Magic School Bus, both the show and the books. Its been fun sharing the Magic School Bus with my kids. They have many of the books, from bees to the waterworks and we own the complete original series. The Magic School Bus also has a number of science kits and they are some of my kids favorite kits. We keep the cards or booklet to repeat the experiments as we like. My kids loved using the kits to study flight, weather and space. We have the kit for engineering and electricity and have done a few of these experiments, but my kids don't have the patience for all these activities.
This time, we tried our The World of Germs. There are two halves to this kit. The first half has a series of yeast and mold experiments, comparing how bread grows mold in different situations and watching yeast in action. These were fun and easy. The kids loved watching the different scenarios with the mold growth, watching them change over time. These experiments will be a several day event, but only take a little time each day. The yeast experiments were fun, but since my daughter loves helping me bake, she's seen yeast in action a lot before. This kit included a bread recipe for the yeast projects, although she wasn't a big fan of the final product.
The second half of the kit we used with our friends on our science play date. We made the agar plates at our house, then worked with our friends to collect the samples. The agar plates let us compare hands before and after washing, compare which foot had the most germs, and the potential antibiotic power of toothpaste, antibiotics, and yogurt. We collected samples one week and then brought the plates back a week later to see what had grown. The girls loved seeing the different colors that grew from their feet. Everyone enjoyed seeing the how clean the toothpaste and the antibiotic areas were. The yogurt got many yucks. This might be an activity right out of a high school science lab, but kids of all ages can learn about germs.
Glo Germ
This is a short activity that can show your kids the importance of washing hands. We liked the lotion which we rubbed on our hands. Then head to the bathroom and wash hands how you normally would. Then pull out the black light, which my kids love, and shine it over your hands. Seeing how many things might be left on their hands after they thought they did a good job is a great lesson. While shining the lights over their hands, talk about the best things to do to get rid of germs. We talked about warm water, soap and singing the ABCs. Choose the song that works best for you, but most people say 2 Happy Birthdays or Row Row Row Your Boats. I like the alphabet as its a nice reminder. There's usually enough to repeat the activity, depending on how many kids are in the group.
Magic School Bus The World of Germs
I grew up with the Magic School Bus, both the show and the books. Its been fun sharing the Magic School Bus with my kids. They have many of the books, from bees to the waterworks and we own the complete original series. The Magic School Bus also has a number of science kits and they are some of my kids favorite kits. We keep the cards or booklet to repeat the experiments as we like. My kids loved using the kits to study flight, weather and space. We have the kit for engineering and electricity and have done a few of these experiments, but my kids don't have the patience for all these activities.
This time, we tried our The World of Germs. There are two halves to this kit. The first half has a series of yeast and mold experiments, comparing how bread grows mold in different situations and watching yeast in action. These were fun and easy. The kids loved watching the different scenarios with the mold growth, watching them change over time. These experiments will be a several day event, but only take a little time each day. The yeast experiments were fun, but since my daughter loves helping me bake, she's seen yeast in action a lot before. This kit included a bread recipe for the yeast projects, although she wasn't a big fan of the final product.
The second half of the kit we used with our friends on our science play date. We made the agar plates at our house, then worked with our friends to collect the samples. The agar plates let us compare hands before and after washing, compare which foot had the most germs, and the potential antibiotic power of toothpaste, antibiotics, and yogurt. We collected samples one week and then brought the plates back a week later to see what had grown. The girls loved seeing the different colors that grew from their feet. Everyone enjoyed seeing the how clean the toothpaste and the antibiotic areas were. The yogurt got many yucks. This might be an activity right out of a high school science lab, but kids of all ages can learn about germs.
Glo Germ
This is a short activity that can show your kids the importance of washing hands. We liked the lotion which we rubbed on our hands. Then head to the bathroom and wash hands how you normally would. Then pull out the black light, which my kids love, and shine it over your hands. Seeing how many things might be left on their hands after they thought they did a good job is a great lesson. While shining the lights over their hands, talk about the best things to do to get rid of germs. We talked about warm water, soap and singing the ABCs. Choose the song that works best for you, but most people say 2 Happy Birthdays or Row Row Row Your Boats. I like the alphabet as its a nice reminder. There's usually enough to repeat the activity, depending on how many kids are in the group.
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