Frog Pond Playdough

Truly one of my favorite sounds in the world is the sound of the spring frogs in the woods around our home, especially that first night I hear them as it means spring is here. I was pretty excited to notice it for the first time last week. So now that the frogs are here, it means it's time for the boys and I to start exploring the world of frogs.

We started that exploration by reading a few books and playing with some frog pond playdough this week.

Last year we bought a great set that showed four stages of a frog's life cycle, and I've been waiting to use them in some way. As we made a giant batch of our ocean playdough for Big Brother's birthday earlier this month, I decided it could double up as pond water. I added in some floral rocks, lily pads, and cattails. I added everything onto a tray for Big Brother.

To make the cattails I cut out small brown ovals and thread them onto half piece pipe cleaners. The lily pads were also made from cut out craft foam.  

We also have a handful of small frogs in our animal bin, so I set up a separate frog tray for Little Brother. 

Before playing we read several frog books. Two of our favorites include Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace and From Frog to Tadpole by Wendy Pfeffer. 

Afterwards the boys had a great time setting up their frog ponds and frogs. Big Brother set up a pond and decorate the edges. 

Little Brother made sure he gave his frogs a comfy place to rest (and later shared his goldfish snack with them.) 

One of my favorite moments was when I asked Big Brother why he had set up his eggs under the lily pad, he explained it was just like what they had talked about in one of the books. He also added fish, who tried to nibble the eggs. 

The rest of our afternoon involved some great time outside searching for real frogs too!

We're looking forward to spending some more time exploring more about the frogs in our backyard in the next few weeks! 

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