The Magic Tree House series has transported readers with its broad span of eras, locales, and historical topics. Readers of the series gain a grasp on scientific ideas and historical principles through the adventures of the main characters, Jack and Annie. Mary Pope Osborne is a gifted writer and this wide range of activities will supplement her beloved stories well. Enjoy creating mummified apples, volcanoes, ninja stars, and cartouches as your students grow in excitement about The Magic Tree House books.
1. Civil War on Sunday Pontoon Bridge
In Civil War on Sunday, Jack and Annie are whisked away to the fields of a harrowing Civil War battle. With this project, you can recreate a key engineering feat of the Civil War, the floating pontoon bridge that allowed soldiers to transport supplies across the water.
Learn More Nielson School
2. Knight at Dawn Salt Dough Castle
Build this epic castle, moat and all, entirely out of salt dough! Salt dough is easy to make at home and is non-toxic for younger users. This is a great opportunity to practice floor-mapping skills as students plan out how their medieval castle will be laid-out.
Learn More: Teaching Without Chairs
3. Night of the Ninjas Origami Stars
Let your students play at being ninjas with this simple tutorial and some easy target practice. Chances are some of your students already know how to make these and are just waiting for permission to show off their skills.
Learn More: Paging Supermom
4. Mummies in the Morning Apple Mummies
This STEM activity is great for exploring the concepts of entropy, decay, and ancient forms of preservation. It would be great to try this fun activity around Halloween time.
Learn More: Our Family Code
5. Mummies at Midnight Egyptian Merkhet
A merkhet is a kind of clock ancient Egyptians used to mark the passing of time by measuring the distance between various stars. Make your own ancient merkhet using just a few simple tools and get in the spirit of Jack and Annie’s visit to Ancient Egypt in Mummies at Midnight.
Learn More: Teaching Without Chairs
6. Mummies in the Morning Ancient Egyptian Cartouches
A cartouche is an oval shape that uses hieroglyphics to represent the names of royalty in Ancient Egypt. Print out a sheet about hieroglyphics and have your students carve their names out using the symbols in wet clay.
Learn More: Rainy Day Mum
7. Read in Historical Order
This fantastic reader has compiled the Magic Tree House books into order by time period. What a wonderful way to encourage chapter book reading with your students while bulking up their historical context for future units in Social Studies class.
Learn More: Peanut Butter Fish Lessons
8. Sunset of the Sabertooth Cave Paintings
This activity lists all the supplies needed to make these gorgeous cave paintings inspired by Jack and Annie’s trip to the earliest stages of human history. This cave painting activity will bring the book to life for students.
Learn More: 3 Dinosaurs
9. Viking Ships at Sunrise Ship Building
Students with a thirst for adventure will enjoy creating their very own Viking ship straight out of the pages of Mary Pope Osborne’s Viking Ships at Sunrise.
Learn More: Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
10. Vacation Under the Volcano Live Volcano Model
A volcano activity would be great to do with a book club that has read Vacation Under the Volcano. Tie this STEM Project in with a unit on volcanoes and tectonic plates or a science fair project.
Learn More: The Happy Housewife
11. Midnight on the Moon Moon Sand
With just two simple ingredients you can make this tactile moon sand that will tie well with other moon activities inspired by Midnight on the Moon. Recreate the adventure of Jack and Annie with a moon-based diorama using playdough or lego sculptures.
Learn More: Happy Mothering
12. Dark Day in the Deep Sea Glow-in-the-Dark Fish
This art project has students learn about the bioluminescence of deep-sea fish and create their own display using the anatomically correct placement of glow-in-the-dark paint. These eerie fish mimic the creatures Jack and Annie see in their ocean adventures. Other ocean activities will pair well with this book.
Learn More: Ellen J. McHenry
13. Pirates Past Noon Treasure Hunt
This fun class activity has students code a secret pirate language to find sight words. Any pirate activities will pair well with this treasure hunt and a novel study of Pirates Past Noon.
Learn More: Inspiration Laboratories
14. Polar Bears Past Bedtime Environmental Science Activity
Polar animals activities can teach students about the impact we are having on the environment in a hands-on, creative manner. This activity will pair well with students reading of Polar Bears Past Bedtime.
Learn More: Kitchen Counter Chronicle
15. Dinosaurs Before Dark Dino Timeline
Help your learners see the evolution of dinosaurs by tracking their growth and development through the various phases of the dinosaur era. Dinosaur activities are always full of high engagement for students and this will be no different. This activity pairs well with Mary Pope Osborne’s Dinosaurs Before Dark.
Learn More: Rainy Day Mum
16. Dinosaurs Before Dark 10-Frame Math Game
This will quickly become one of your student’s favorite activities as they improve their number sense in this fun sorting activity. It is a hands-on, tactile way to practice number recognition, number writing, and writing numbers in word form.
Learn More: Inspiration Laboratories
17. Magic Tree House Timeline
Explore time through books in the Magic Tree House series. Take each book cover image you read and glue it onto a master timeline as a way of keeping track of the historical time periods you have traveled to with Jack and Annie.
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18. Fill Jack’s Backpack
This coloring activity has students fill up Jack’s backpack with essential items for his next adventure through time. Discuss as a class what he may need depending on the location and setting of the next story you are reading as a class.
Learn More: Mrs. Bremer’s Class
19. Design Your Own Tree House
Provide students with some unconventional supplies like craft sticks, legos, pipe cleaners, or spaghetti, and hold a competition to see who can build the best treehouse for Jack and Annie.
Learn More: Kimberley Grace
20. Magic Tree House Map
Track the adventures of Jack and Annie by asking, “Where in the World” are they now?! This will help students keep track of geography.
Learn More: Rainy Day Mum
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