When I was growing up in Northern Maine, nothing was quite as neat as finding a big old clump of frog eggs floating around in a puddle- or better yet, tadpoles! We never were successful at raising tadpoles into frogs (I don’t remember ever trying except maybe once when we popped some in our old fish bowl), but the process is still fascinating and would be SO neat to watch! I’ve never come across frog eggs here in the south (probably because there are actually lakes nearby to lay eggs in!) but I knew the topic would be something my littles would love- plus it’s a great theme to do in the springtime! Without further delay, let’s hop into learning all about frogs!
–Literacy:
-5 little speckled frogs song: I wrote this song on chart paper and each morning we sang it for calendar time. If you don’t know the tune, it’s on Cocomelon on YouTube.
-F is for frog writing: I printed two F is for Frog pages, one for my 5 year old, one for my 3 year old and had them pracitce writing the letter F.
-Frog life cycle reader: I printed these from Teachers Pay Teachers and we read and colored each page.
-Feed the frog ABCs: I printed this feed the frog activity from Rad Lil Mama. To play, I laid out 6-8 cards at a time and asked my littles to find and feed the frog certain letters.
-Frog writing: Fiction- write a story with a frog as the main character. Nonfiction- write all about frogs with a fact for each day.
-Frog book list:
–Math:
-Shape frog: Cut out shapes to make a frog (I used lots of triangles and ovals because they still trip my littles up!) and give your littles instructions on how to put it together.
-Lilly pad counting: Cut out 20 lilly pad shapes from green craft foam (or green construction paper) and put them in order on the floor. Have your little hop from pad to pad while counting (or counting for them if they’re younger). You can also put them in a circle and call out numbers for them to hop to.
-Frogs on a lily pad counting: Using the lily pads from the above activity, I placed a lily pad with a number on it in front of my little and had them count out that many toy frogs to put on the lily pad. I also used them as flash cards to practice identifying numbers with my 5 year old.
-Feed the frog flies number game: I printed out this game from Teachers Pay Teachers. To play, I put the number cards face down, had my littles pick one, identify the number, then feed the frog that many flies. We plaid until they’d practiced all the numbers in the set.
–Science:
-What makes an amphibian?: We read the amphibian parts of Nat Geo Kids “Big Book of Reptiles and Amphibians” and then I had them identify what makes an animal an amphibian. My 5 year old wrote down his thinking on a graphic organizer I got at Teachers Pay Teachers in a free frog unit.
-Frog life cycle sensory bin: I made a sensory bin using the frog life cycle toys from the activity below, some foam lily pads I cut out, blue water and some clear water beads. I put everything in a cake pan and had my littles play and explore. As they played we talked about each stage of the frog’s metamorphosis and how they grow and change over time.
-Frog life cycle toys: We did this on the same day that we read our frog beginning reader since they go together. Give your little a set of frog life cycle toys all mixed up and have them put them in order.
-Frog diagram: I printed this frog diagram from Teachers Pay Teachers, had my littles carefully cut out the words, then glue them in the correct spot. My 5 year old sounded the words out himself, I read the words for my 3 year old.
-Frogs vs. Toads Venn Diagram: We read a book on frogs and toads (see book list in literacy) and then I had my littles tell me how they are alike and different. I wrote their thinking on a Venn Diagram on our board.
–Art:
-Hand and footprint frogs: These came out so funny! I had my littles make handprints and footprints on paper, then I connected them with a frog body, arms and legs!
-Toilet paper roll frog: I had my littles paint the outside of a TP roll green and the inside red. Then I stapled the back end shut and hot glued on eyes, arms and legs. I got this idea from Kids Activity Zone.
-Croaking frog cup craft: I printed frogs and had my littles cut them out and glue them to a cup. Then I carefully cut a hole in the bottom, threaded some ribbon through and knotted both ends. They were delighted to learn the cup “croaks” when you pull the string! I got this idea from Preschool Powol Packets.
-Paper plate frog puppet: These took a few days to finish since you have to let each side of the plate dry before moving on, but they came out cute! I got the idea from The Holly Dog Blog.
-Leaping frog origami: I did all the folding for this, then my littles decorated their frogs with spots and eyes- they really liked how they can actually jump! I followed the instructions in this video on YouTube.
–Extras:
-Letter of the week: You should be finished by now, but if your little doesn’t know all their letters you can do a review.
-Word of the week: too, to, two, each day we do a different activity focused on our word- introduction/sound the word out/have your little practice writing it on the chalkboard or whiteboard, word family list- think of other words that rhyme with your word of the week, use the word in a sentence (have your little come up with the sentence and write it for them) then have your little illustrate the sentence, and workpage practice.
-Bible verse: This month’s Bible verse is “Be kind to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 I write each word in the verse on a post-it, stick them to the wall then have my little point to each word and read it each day all month.
-Character trait of the month: forgiveness…this word is reviewed and posted at the start of the month then each time one of my littles freely demonstrates generosity I use the word to specifically praise what they’re doing and encourage the trait in them. (ie. “Thank you for forgiving your brother for grabbing that toy from you.”)
–Supply/shopping list:
- green craft foam
- toy frogs
- waterbeads
- frog life cycle figures
- paper plate
- toilet paper roll
- cup
- string
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