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. They are a fascinating way of seeing the full life cycle through a timelapse.
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
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.
Frog life cycle slideshow lesson and foldout
If you need a full science lesson about frogs and their life cycle, you’ll want to grab this resource from TpT. It has an editable 25-slide presentation (in both Google Slides and PowerPoint) PLUS a foldable life cycle activity with ready-to-print differentiated templates.
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.
Frog books and other resources
Enhance your frog-themed curriculum with recommended books and additional educational resources to ignite curiosity and inspire further exploration.
- Parents and teachers now have a way to teach about the wonders of life in an engaging way, with manipulatives that children can squeeze, touch, and play with.
- This fascinating Safari Ltd. set contains five pieces, each showing a different stage in the development of a frog.
- The set contains a cluster of eggs, three tadpole stages, and an adult frog.
- Realistically detailed jumbo magnets
- Help students visually explore the life cycle of a frog
- Model the life cycle of a frog right on the white-board
- Includes 9 write and wipe pieces and activity guide
- Ideal for ages 5+
- These lifelike life cycle figures can pass for the living things!
- Great as a visual aid for the classroom
- The accurately detailed Eggs, Tadpole, Young Frog and Adult Leopard frog replicas are oversized for little hands
- Davey, Owen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 40 Pages – 05/02/2023 (Publication Date) – Flying Eye Books (Publisher)
- Carney, Elizabeth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 01/13/2009 (Publication Date) – National Geographic Kids (Publisher)
Whether you’re venturing outdoors to observe frogs in their habitat or bringing the wonders of amphibian biology into the classroom or home, your students will love learning about these amazing animals!
What are your favourite frog or frog life cycle activities? Let me know in the comments!
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