In this blog post, we’ll explore some frog life cycle activities that children will love! You’ll also find book and resource recommendations for teaching about this topic in science.
Make a frog-friendly outdoor area
If you have space in your school grounds, why not create a wildlife pond? Not only will a pond provide a habitat for frogs, but it will also be a valuable asset to use for outdoor learning. What better way to find out about frogs, their features, and their lifestyle than by observing them firsthand?
Creating a pond from scratch might seem daunting but there are resources that can help you:
Young People’s Trust for the Environment: Making a Pond
The Wildlife Trusts: Create a Mini Pond
When creating your pond, you’ll want to consider how to attract frogs to it. This great article from The Woodland Trust provides information about how to attract frogs to a pond.
Go pond dipping
Once your pond is established, you can try pond dipping to see what’s living there. If having a pond isn’t an option, try your local nature reserve – they may offer expert-led pond dipping workshops for children to view frogs firsthand.
See metamorphosis in action
To help children visualize the stages of the frog life cycle, check out this YouTube video from The Dodo . A fascinating way of seeing the full life cycle through a time-lapse.
Compare frogs and toads with a Venn diagram
Although frogs and toads look similar, there are also some key differences. For example, frogs generally move around by hopping while toads tend to walk. Frogs lay their eggs in clusters (frogspawn) and toads lay theirs in a long chain.
Children could research the similarities and differences between frogs and toads, and compare them using a Venn diagram. You could also compare and contrast tadpoles and adult frogs in the same way.
Frog life cycle spinner wheel craft
For a quick and easy, low-prep life cycle activity, use this free frog life cycle spinner wheel to help children sequence the frog life cycle stages.
Click the link below to download the free PDF. Students will colour the life cycle stages (eggs, embryos, tadpole, tadpole with legs, froglet, and frog), cut them out and sequence them on the template, and secure the lily pad on top. When they gently turn the wheel using the handy tab, the life cycle stages will be revealed!
The finished spinners could be glued into an interactive science notebook to be referenced by children.
Find out about the threats to frogs
For a conservation-themed research project, older students could find out about threats to frogs locally or globally. These could include habitat loss/fragmentation, the introduction of invasive species, domestic animals (e.g. cats), or water pollution. They could choose a particular species to look at in greater depth and discuss the impact of frog loss on the wider ecosystem.
0 comments