Using the Magic Tree House series as a foundation, teachers can enhance language acquisition in the classroom. Use vocabulary from the Magic Tree House book to create crossword puzzles, word search puzzles and definition matching games. Have students put their creative writing skills to use by writing their own magical, mythical, historical or mysterious short stories or have them pretend to be Jack or Annie and write a journal entry based on the novel.
Have students make habitat dioramas or posters based on the creatures in the book such as killer ants from "Afternoon on the Amazon" or langurs from "Tigers at Twilight." Teach students about Morse code and have them tap messages out for their classmates to guess. Create miniature volcanoes using baking soda and vinegar when you read "Vacation Under the Volcano."
Place students in groups to draw and decorate a Pegasus such as the one depicted in "Hour of the Olympics." Bring food into the classroom and teach children to make Egyptian pyramids out of rice crispy treats. Make buffalo in the grass prints by pasting a buffalo photo to a sheet of construction paper and gluing blades of real grass over it when you read "Buffalo Before Breakfast."
Ask children to research historical periods or events and create PowerPoint presentations to share with their classmates. Give students suggestions such as the Civil War, the dinosaur era, Elizabethan England or the Wild West. Have students write "a day in the life" stories based on a historical person such as a Viking, an Olympian, a Pilgrim or a knight. For group activities, have students make paper puppets based on characters in the novel and write a short play to act out in front of the class.