Although the whole frog life cycle may be a bit sophisticated for very young preschoolers , they are definitely old enough to understand that a tadpole turns into a frog. This is an easy and adaptable activity, if you need a frog activity to follow up click here for a cute frog puppet!
- Gather your materials. You will need some green paint, a paper plate, some red paper, a googly eye and some streamers (paper cut in strips would work well too). If you want you can also use some sparkles- this seems to be the only thing my son wants to do at art time lately!
- Start by painting your paper plate, we are using a sponge but a brush, or even finger painting would work.
- While your child paints cut some streamers into 6-8 inch pieces. I cut 4 but ended up only using 3.
- When they are finished painting let the paper plate dry.
- Hand them the streamers and have them paint them , we used roller paints on each.
- Add glitter if you want.
- Let the streamers dry.
- While everything is drying, cut some lips, I made a heart and cut off the bottom.
- Now when things require drying time you run the risk of loosing your little artists, my son happily said “mama you glue!” so I did. He was just as proud of his project in the end , but you can also put it aside and complete it when the mood strikes!
- Add the glue for the streamers.
- Add the streamers- I added 4 , but took one off. Also this picture shows them all spread out, I ended up grouping them together to make one tail.
- Add the lips
- Add the eye and let dry!
Song
Five green and speckled frogs
sat on a speckled log
eating the most delicious bugs
yum yum !
One jumped into the pool
where it was nice and cool
now there are 4 green speckled frogs
ribbit ribbit!
Keep going until no frogs left!
Books!
“From Tadpole to Frog” by Wendy Pfeffer is another gem from the “Let’s- Read-And-Find-Out” series. It goes into great detail without offering too much for young readers. When I was reading it to my 2 year old, I skipped some pages, it’s a little long for him still but 3-5 year olds are perfect age for this non fiction book. The illustrations are interesting and kept my wiggly man into the book when the text went above his head.
MoodyMommy says
What a great post!! I did something similar a few weeks ago with my son…but I sure didn’t have all of those resources, might try it again over the summer with all of the activities!!!
Mike says
We’re going to do that right now.
Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com
Twitter: AboutParenting
Tanya says
Very cool! I’m trying to include more “science-related” activities for my 2 year old. This is fun!
Allie says
Thanks!
Tanya – those read and find out books are great for 2 year olds, you have to edit it some so they aren’t over loaded but they are great. I used to hoard them for my classroom.
Tanya says
Thanks for the book tip, Allie. I wonder if they are available through Scholastic book orders. I’m about to make a big order so will have to check and see now!
Preschool Playbook says
This is adorable-I just love it. Thanks.
Meredith says
Googly-eyes plus glue equals fun craft for my 2 year old. He saw pack of “eyes” that I picked up at the dollar store (btw, is $1 too much for a pack of googly eyes? Sometimes I wonder if the Dollar Store is the best place for some craft items) and he begged me to open them up for him. He’ll have a blast with this.
Allie says
A dollar is AWESOME !
I am always leary of discounted things, I’d just make sure he doesn’t put things in his mouth.
Swati says
Love watching you sing that song – you really get into the mood! Listening to your ‘yum yum’ makes the bugs seem tasty to me too!
Bookworm says
Hi!
I posted about this on my blog!
Thanks for sharing!
DoÄŸa says
Yazdıklarımı anlamama oranın yuksek 🙂 ama super mımıkler ve super bır sarkı 🙂 tebrıkler..
Shannon says
Yay! A friend is giving us some tadpoles in a few weeks, and we’ll do a unit on frogs and toads, so this is perfect for us! Thanks for sharing – and btw, I love the video of the song. I’d never heard it before.
Tara says
I would love to include this one in “The Bookworm’s Bookbag”, as well! So darn cute!
.-= Tara´s last blog ..Over the Top Mornings =-.