Children
always seem to be fascinated by these little creatures. Seeing them again
in the spring after a long winter is sure to spark interest in them,
making it a perfect time to study the bouncy critters.
Literacy
: Cut
five green frogs from felt to use on the felt board with this rhyme.
Print number words on the frogs. Invite the children to take them down
one at a time as you sing the song.
Activities
Frog Puppet: Purchase
or make one! There is also a Froggy Stuffed toy you can get from
Lake Shore Learning that has all the clothes to go along with the Froggy
books by Jonathon London. Take out your puppet and read some of the
Froggy books to the kids! They are great fun!
Frog and Owl Puppets:
to go along with the song ... "There Once was a Little Green
Frog" Supplies: Pictures of owls and frogs, either clip art or maybe out
of a magazine what ever works, pop-sickle sticks, glue. Directions: Glue the owl and frog pictures to the pop-sickle
sticks and then have a ball singing the song and acting it out with the
puppets!
Frog & Toad Comparison:Show the kids the word amphibian written on a piece of paper.
Share with them that the word amphibian means "two lives".
Tell them frogs and toads are amphibians because they live part of their
life in water as tadpoles and part of their lives on land as frogs and
toads. Talk about what frogs and toads look like, how are they
alike, and different. Look at pictures to compare them.
Frog
Count: Stamp a frog pond picture, have out paper with lily pads and
a pond drawn on it have the kids add frogs and toads to the pictures using
rubber stamps. Count the number of frogs in everyone's pond.
Frog Lily
Pad Number Match: Make a number
matching game using Frog die cuts and lily pads cut from green
construction paper or fun foam. Program the frogs with numbers and the
lily pads with number words and have the kids match the frogs to the
correct lily pad. To make it easier glue on small flowers or use flower
stickers to provide counters for kids who don't know all their number
words yet. So for example on the lily pad with the word
"three" on it you would include three flower stikers etc. so
the child could count them an know that it says "three" on
that one.
Finger Paint Frogs Supplies: Green Finger Paint, yellow finger paint, freezer
wrap, yarn, newspaper or scratch paper, stapler, scissors. Directions: Draw a large (simple) frog shape on two pieces of
freezer wrap per child. Have the kids finger paint with green paint
and encourage them to fill in the whole frog! Going out of the lines
is fine!!! Each child should paint two frogs. Help the
children cut out their frogs. Kids can then staple the two frog
shapes together painted sides out (with your assistance) leaving a
whole to stuff the frog with paper. Then let the kids stuff scratch
paper or newspaper into the frog and staple closed. Attach yarn to
hang them from.
Paper Plate Frogs Supplies: Green paper plates or regular paper plates and
green crayons markers or paint, green construction paper strips, red
construction paper strips, cotton balls, and either wiggly eyes or some
black construction paper circles (paper punched out works well), glue. Directions: Have the children color or paint their plates
green if you do not use green paper plates. Fold the plate in half.
Glue cotton balls on one side of the paper plate in the middle of the
plate for the frog eyes. Glue wiggly eyes or black circles on the
center of each cotton ball. Fold four of the green strips of paper
accordion style to make legs for the frog and glue them to the frog body.
Show the children how to roll the red strip of paper on a pencil to make
the frog tongue, and then glue it in the mouth of the frog.
Lily Pad Hop: Play
it like cooperative musical chairs, set lily pad shapes out on the floor
that were cut from green paper or material, and instruct the children to
swim around them until the music stops. When the music stops they
need to hop on a lily pad. Remove the lily pads one at a time and
instruct the children to share the remaining lily pads. They have to
work together to find a way to get everyone to be at least touching the
last lily pad in the end.
Frog
Life Cycle: Show the kids a picture or poster of the frog life
cycle. Talk about the different stages and things like how the
tadpole lives in the water and how it changes, and then look at the frog
and where it lives ... on land. There are all kinds of props you can
find to use with this activity, puzzles of the life cycle, plastic frog
life cycle toys, picture sequence cards... etc.
Green
Play Dough: Add some frog cookie cutter shapes if you have them
too!
Frog
Puzzles Supplies: Picture of a frog that kids can color (draw lines on it
for cutting into a puzzle). Scissors, markers or crayons, optional
clear contact paper, and zip lock bag. Directions: Have kids color their frog pictures and talk
about all the different colors frogs can be. Cover them with contact
paper and then have kids cut on the lines to make it a puzzle. Give
each child a plastic bag with their name on it for them to keep their
puzzle pieces in.
Frogs
in the Pond! Make some Jell-O (or pudding would work too) for
the pond (grape works good!) pour into individual clear plastic cups, on
top add some blobs of green whip cream (food coloring added to whip cream)
and place gummy frogs on each blob (whip cream is the lily pad) add
some flower sprinkles if you have them! Kids could easily do this.
: Cut
five green frogs from felt to use on the felt board with this rhyme.
Print number words on the frogs. Invite the children to take them down
one at a time as you sing the song.
