“The frog is a powerful jumper and has a slippery body. Its eggs are laid in masses of jelly at the bottom of ponds. The frog may be studied in its native situation by the pupils or it may be brought to the school and placed in an aquarium…”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 183
Outdoor Hour Challenge
Summer Series #6 Frogs
Train Your Senses
- Sight: Observe the development of a tadpole to a frog. Visit a pond or lake and sit quietly while watching for frogs. Look for eggs clusters or strands in the vegetation along the shallow edges of ponds or lakes.
- Touch: Hold a frog and use your sense of touch to examine the frog. Is the frog easy to hold? Remember to wash your hands afterward.
- Hearing: In the evening, listen for sounds of frogs and toads. Can you distinguish different calls?
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 180 to 186 (The Frog, Lesson 47). You can listen to frog calls HERE and HERE.
2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 68 to 92. This thorough section explains the complete frog life cycle, gives suggestions for finding frog habitats, frog calls to listen for, and suggestions for a tadpole study.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15 minutes looking for frog eggs, tadpoles, or frogs at a local pond or lake. Use the suggestions from the box above to use your senses in your exploration. If you are able, collect a few tadpoles to put into an aquarium for a period of time to watch the development of the tadpoles into frogs. See this website for more information: How to Raise Tadpoles.
Suggested observation activities:
Describe the colors and markings on the frog.
Describe the eyes and mouth of the frog.
Compare its “hands and feet”.
What sound does the frog make?
Is the frog a good swimmer?
Measure how far your frog can jump.
If you do not have access to tadpoles or frogs, take your fifteen minutes outdoors at sundown and see what you can find that interests your child. Continue your previous challenge activities or follow the lead of your child and see what adventures you can have in the twilight. (Suggestion: Don’t turn on a light and don’t take a flashlight.)
Follow-Up Activity:
If your child is interested, record sketches of the stages of a frog’s development. If you have the Summer Series ebook, you can use the notebook pages and coloring page included to record your frog studies. You can use a blank sketchbook page to record your frog studies. Draw you tadpole’s growth over time. Sketch frogs seen as the summer progresses.
Please make sure to come back and post your link on Mr. Linky after completing this challenge and writing your blog entry.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description:
Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
