Summer Unit- Pacific Tree Frogs

When I started this blog four years ago, I named it "Our Pond" because I thought it sounded like a sweet name for a house of toddlers.  If you go to the beginning posts of this blog, you can find a lot of frog themed classroom printables.  I never actually used them (e-mail me if you'd like them), but the frog theme has stuck in our minds.  In fact, I still dream of crocheting these lilypad rugs someday (they'd be good for morning time).

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Dragonfly (age 6) is very in love with frogs and has been eagerly searching for two summers to get frogs again (our first time with frogs is documented here).  She got her wish about two weeks ago, when the kids started finding Pacific Tree Frogs in our swimming pool.  At first, we kept our new pets in a Critter Keeper, but we were happy to move them when Dragonfly got a 10-gallon aquarium for her birthday.  The frogs have some moss substrate, a hideaway, a few sticks for climbing, and a pond.

This week, we read a book about our new pets called, Pacific Tree Frogs, which covers a lot of facts about them and goes through their life cycle.  The most valuable page for us was the one showing all the things tree frogs like to eat: mosquitoes, flies, crickets, fruit flies, and worms.

Although I didn't take this picture on the right, I had to include it.  I love the detail, the size of the eggs to the branch, and the discussions that it started when I showed it the kids.  We also looked up some frog anatomy on the internet and talked about their zoological classifications.

Of course, the neatest thing about frogs is how they go from herbivores to carnivores, from underwater breathers to air breathers, and from swimmers to hoppers.  The transition from tadpole to frog is amazing and fascinating to people of all ages.  I was surprised how much of the life cycle the kids remembered from two summers ago, but I got out of Safari frog life cycle set for review.  I put the figurines in a sensory bin and let the kids act out how the stages and just play in the water.

The kids continue to catch frogs, and I am in constant negotiations with them about how many frogs are too many frogs.  They're hoping for tadpoles and have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out which of our frogs are male or female.

I love homeschooling for moments such as these.  Worth every penny I spend on crickets.

Resources

- Tree Frogs (Round 1)

- Lilypad Skip Counting Printable

- Homeschool Unit (lots of ideas)

- Frog and Human Anatomy Comparison

- How to Raise Tadpoles

- Tadpole Investigation Area

- Frog Dissection Paper Model

- Frog Dissection (video with real frog)