Frog Pond Life Cycle Model

Frog Pond Life Cycle Model

Materials

  • non waxed paper plates
  • crayons (no shades of blue)
  • small sponges
  • watered down blue tempera paint
  • small containers to hold the paint
  • small “flippy frogs” – 1 per child

Pass out the crayons and the plates.

Story

Frogs by Gail Gibbons.
Read pp. 1 – 6.
Explain that frogs begin their life in the water and that baby frogs come from eggs. The eggs are laid in a group. Ask the children to take a dark crayon and draw a small group of frog eggs in the water.

Read pp. 7-12
Baby frogs are called tadpoles and they don’t look like their parents. Ask the students to draw a small tadpole with no legs and a fat tail.

Read pp. 13 – 14
Students draw a small tadpole with a tail and hind legs.

Read p. 15
Students draw a small tadpole with hind legs, front legs and a short tail. Talk about the things that a tadpole would need to survive in its habitat. Tadpoles eat plants. They are vegetarians. The children will need to draw some tiny plants.

Read pp. 16 -18 * (The book doesn’t need to be completed.)
Animals like the frog that begin their life in the water and then live on the land are called amphibians. As a tadpole gets older, it will begin to prey on insects, worms, and even small fish. Ask the children to use their crayons to make a log for the adult frog to sit on to warm itself in the sun. Amphibians are ectotherms. Their body temperature is the same as the outside air. Have them draw some bugs in the water. Adult frogs catch insects with their sticky tongue.

Help the children dip the ends of the small sponges into the paint and paint over their “pond”. (The sponge needs to be only slightly damp with the paint.) These will dry quickly. Give each child a plastic adult frog and let them see if they can get it into their “pond”.

Activity provided by:

Fontenelle Forest
1111 N. Bellevue Blvd.
Bellevue, NE 68005
www.fontenelleforest.org

Age:
_ 0-1
_ 1-2
_ 2-3
✓ 3-4
✓ 4-5
✓ 5-6

Category: Group Activities

Iowa Early Learning Standards:
8.2, 11.2, 13.1, 14.3

Related Kindernature Resources: Other Resources: