My son loves learning about animals and with such weird weather this year ( was yours weird too?) we are still seeing lots tadpoles in water around here. We had fun with this easy and very kinetic lesson about the life cycle of frogs. You will see a lot of cutting, coloring and writing around here right now as we work on my son’s fine motor skills. He’s started asking to write everything and to make writing easier we are taking every chance we get to work those skills out even if he’s not writing. Scissor skills are a great and usually enticing way to do that with kids.
- Gather your materials you will need a sheet of sturdy card stock , a print out of the frog life cycle ( we got ours here ) , some crayons or pencil crayons, kid scissors, a marker, double stick tape,white paper, clear tape and 5 flip tops from wipes cases.
- Start by talking about the life cycle of a frog with your child, you may even want to read the first book listed below as part of this activity.
- Next have them color the stages. If your child isn’t into coloring by all means skip this step- the goal is to have fun learning not rigidly follow all steps.
- Time to cut. At our house this is a favorite activity. Coloring is zipped through haphazardly but cutting is savored! My son did the cutting with me sometimes helping him position the scissors by making a guide line with a colored pencil. It’s a great way to support while letting independent preschoolers still ” Do it themselves!”
- While he cut I made the labels for the flip tops. I could have made them with the ( newly bought) printer but I wrote them out to show you that if your child is able ( and it doesn’t make the whole project too long for them) to have them write it out too .
- Then I popped the flip tops in order on the card stock and added wee arrows. My tops didn’t need glue because they still had adhesive on them from their packaging. Yours might need a dab or some double stick tape ( they should really sponsor my blog I go through a ton of this stuff, I <3 it!).
- Next up add double stick tape to each stage cut out and find the matching phase of the life cycle. We worked on reading and pretended to me Superhero scientists researching the “Evil Frog of Fear!” Hey whatever works and keeps them having fun!
- I had my Superhero Scientists write Frog in the middle , you can add life cycle or really anything you want. Frog was all we had space for as he is still in the beginning stages of writing. You could also draw a picture as an alternative to writing.
I loved seeing my son show this off to his dad and my parents after we made it. He would enthusiastically flip open the flaps to reveal the stages. Lately he has been extra full of energy , needing to move more and this activity was a good calm break that then also provided him with some movement and a chance to touch and use the craft after making it. Also the tasks of putting the pieces in the right flap really spoke to his desire to solve problems ( or crimes committed by super villains ).
Books About Frogs
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. Edited for 2011 – now at 4.5 years old this book is smack on target for my son. The book has just the right amount of information about frogs for preschoolers to process and to also turn to parents or teachers to ask why and go in search of even more information. I think a sign of a great non fiction book is that it sparks further curiosity about the subject in the readers.
Once Upon a Lily Pad by Joan Sweeney is a cute book about two frogs that lived on the lily pads in Claude Monet’s gardens. I love the theme of life cycles in this story with the frogs hibernating and having more than one set of tadpoles… and eventually the painter not reappearing. It’s actually a great gentle book to start a open discussion about death without having to go into the thick of things right away. I love how it sparks interest in the painter and his beautiful work as well as can be used as a launchpad for an outdoor painting activity ( en plein air) . So many ways to use this book.
Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson gave me goosebumps and made me want to give the author a high five. The little frog leaps away from mama frog going further and further away but leaps back home to his mama each time with then end being spot on with the text changing from ” then leap home to me” to ” when you leap back home , here I’ll be”. My heart was aching seeing the little frog grow so fast! I love this book. It’s got very simple repetitive text ( great for emergent readers!), the illustrations by Matthew Cordell are goofy and sweet. They match the text perfectly so they give great clues to readers who may be struggling with a word. As a read aloud this book is awesome , not only because the repetitive text has a great rhythm but as the little frog gets more independent and goes further from home the things he is leaping over are pretty goofy and will get more than a few laughs from any audience you are reading it to!
Mrs. Plum says
I love the life cycle boxes. I especially love the integration of art into this project and you sweet description of the last book. I am off to see if I can find it used now.
Jillian says
What a great project! I’m going to have my sister start saving wipe lids for me. Little M is really into butterflies so that is probably the life cycle we will create.
admin says
A perfect variation !
Rory K says
Love, Love, Love this! Makes me want to make a wheel with wiped lids to use over and over for cycle projects! Thanks for the great ideas about books, too!
Catherine says
Love this post! My little girl is watching tadpoles in our pond at the moments & is truly fascinated by them. This is such a great activity to share with her – thank you! 🙂
Jackie Lee says
What a great project… my kiddo is also very interested in life cycles. I don’t use wipes though, bu t I bet we could create a flap of some kind to make this work. 🙂
Angell says
Wow! I love this post. Yes, the whole tadpole thing is great, but the wipe lids…I never thought to do something like that. You just opened up a door for me lol!
I will be homeschooling my boys (first year this fall), and that could be a really fun way to do tests of some sort.
I can even make a jeopardy game board…write the numbers on the outside with clues taped underneath….make them related to whatever we are studying at the time. And since the amounts never change, I can keep reusing them.
Thanks so much…off to think about more of what I can do with wipe lids lol!
Angell says
Just out of curiosity…what types of wipes are those? I like the purple!! LOL!!
admin says
Walmart brands sensitive cloth wipes – only ones that work for my baby girl.
Jen says
What a cool idea for the flip tops! We have had fun learning about frogs. We actually have 2 for pets. My little guy loves them- calls them Bop bops. (for hop) He feeds them every day- so cute.
Amy McGinnis says
Hi!
Where can I actually buy the flip tops? I hope that it doesn’t seem like a silly question.
Amy McGinnis says
Never mind, I think I got it. Thank you though! I plan on using this for my frog life cycle unit for student teaching! 🙂
Allison McDonald says
Sorry on vacation and not checking in as often – they are diaper wipe lids. Best bet is to ask parents to save them for you / save them yourself. Not sure where you could buy them though.