Childhood dreams of riding on Ms. Frizzle’s magical school bus may be realized this Halloween.
Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus will give tours from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Rinard Orchid Greenhouse.
The tours will be fashioned around episodes of the Magic School Bus television show focused on plant life and rainforests, with quotes from the episodes being displayed.
Erica Forstater, the environmental education and greenhouse coordinator, will play Ms. Frizzle as she guides participants through the greenhouse. She said the idea is to make it fun for kids both young and old.
Forstater said she hopes to include a volunteer playing a butterfly, another volunteer playing the magic school bus and another playing Ms. Frizzle’s pet lizard, Liz.
“The idea is to get people to travel the greenhouse and see what we already have,” Forstater said. “But then make it fun for younger audience or people who want the nostalgia of the show.”
Forstater said she has committed to practicing all of Ms. Frizzle’s puns.
Cheryl LeBlanc, the orchid collection curator, is excited to draw in a crowd to view the collection.
“We’re focusing on how pollination happens,” LeBlanc said. “And why it’s important and why insects and animals that do the pollination are certain shapes and structures.”
Leblanc curates a greenhouse that holds close to 2,000 orchids, with 43 native to Indiana and 250 to North America.
“Ball State is proud to say we have the largest orchid species collection of any university,” LeBlanc said.
The greenhouse also contains edible plant life including coffee, chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon and stores animals such as small fish and poisonous arrow frogs.
Contact Charles Melton with comments at cwmelton@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Charles61367249.
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