Summer Themes- Tree Frogs


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Dragonfly has been very interested in frogs since we've caught the Pacific Tree Frog in our yard.  We
still have him, and he is very happy in the "habitat" that we've made for him.

His name is "Mr. Froggy" or "Mr."  We alternate his diet between live crickets and live flightless fruit flies.  The kids love watching him eat.

Did you know that tree frogs need to close their eyes to swallow their prey?  And that their teeth are just for holding the food until they swallow it?  And that pacific tree frogs can camouflage themselves as needed?  I've learned so much about our little froggy this week, and the kids have, too.

Theme: tree frogs

Sensory: frog pond sensory bin

Activities: frog life cycle cards
                  tadpole to frog puzzle
                  parts of a frog cards
                  metamorphosis roll and cover game
                  pouring frog eggs
                  counting bugs
                  parts of a frog puzzle

Books: "The Pacific Tree Frog"
             "Frog Life Cycle"
             "Pet Frog"
             "One Frog Sang"
             "Too Many Frogs"
             "Pond Circle"

Our Activity Trays:
Google eyes look a bit like frog eggs, so I thought this would make a good pouring activity.  Skimmer, especially, is very excited about pouring right now.

Just for fun, I made a "Five Little Speckled Frogs" sensory bin.  It's just blue-dyed rice, five frogs from the dollar store, and a piece of drift wood from the lake.

The real-life pictures from Suzie's Homeschool Education Ideas pair so well with the life cycle figures from Safari Ltd (Amazon link).  Dragonfly is really good at matching up the pieces and putting them in order.

Here's another shot of the same activity because we love Safari Ltd products.  That frog is about 3" diameter and a great size for kids to handle.  We also used the frog to learn the names of his body parts.

Tadpole (21 months) woke up before his siblings one day this week so I made him a simple frog pond sensory bin to play in.  In a half inch of light blue water, I placed our Safari frog, a few google eye "eggs" and a blue cup.  He spent a lot of time holding onto the frog and babbling about it.  He can now say "f-og" and "egg."  The google eyes gave him good hand-eye coordination practice and fine motor practice as he chased them around and tried to pick them up.  I think he played for about 20 minutes or so before he told me he was "all done" (with words, not with dumping, which is a triumph of its own).
Dragonfly (almost 4) also got a special tray this week.  We recently ordered the Quadro Jug from Amazon (pictured), in preparation of pouring drinks practice.  I was pretty nervous about how Dragonfly would handle glassware, but she did very well.  The Quadro Jug is perfectly sized for preschoolers and its handle is flat and comfortable in your/their hand.  The dessert glass, which we used as her drinking glass, came from the Dollar store.  I liked how the dessert glass was heavy on the bottom and didn't want to spill.  Of course, when she did spill a little, we had "clean-up" practice with a cloth and bowl.  She decided that next time, she needs a sponge.  Very Montessori.

Follow In Our Pond's board "e is for eggs" on Pinterest.

Question:
What other frog ideas have you done?  What have you seen or thought about doing?  I'm always gathering ideas for next year.

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Comments

  1. So cute! We love learning about frogs and turtles. We have a lot of turtles around our lake and seem to find a baby one each year that just fascinates my boys.

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  2. My kids keep asking me when we'll find frogs again. I'm excited to raise tadpoles with them someday. Thanks for stopping by the blog!

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