Along with the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly, the metamorphosis of tadpole to frog is a fascinating phenomenon. No-one can fail to be amazed by the way in which frogspawn transforms into small amphibians.
Unlike their close relatives, the Great Crested Newt and the Natterjack toad, frogs are not protected by law, so it is permissible to have frogspawn in your setting for the children to watch (if you are fortunate enough to have access to some). But it is important to keep the frogspawn out of strong heat and to return the resulting tadpoles to the pond from which the spawn was taken.
Take the opportunity of having living things in your setting to teach the children about conservation and respect for wildlife. An interest in frogs may also arise from a story, or from something as apparently simple as singing 'Five Little Speckled Frogs' with the group.
OUTDOOR AREA
- Create a place (or places) in the outdoor area where the children can explore hopping, leaping and jumping.
- Offer a range of resources such as hoops, mats, and ropes so the children can build pathways across an imaginary 'pond'.
- You may wish to demarcate a pond with chalks. The children would enjoy marking this out with you.
- Ensure that found and junk materials such as large pieces of card and milk crates are also available.
Learning opportunities
Co-operation and collaboration
Talk for a variety of purposes
Using the language of position
Using the language of mathematics for problem solving
Move in a variety of ways
Be aware of changes in their bodies
Adult role
- Ensure that a rich variety of resources are available.
- Support the children in their problem solving - help them decide where the 'pond' is going to be, and how they might cross it, using the variety of resources available.
- Talk with the children about ways of moving, and the range of possibilities. Play alongside them - will you leap, stride, hop or bounce?
- Some children may naturally develop patterns of movement. If you observe this, discuss it with them later - how might we record the pattern so that others can copy it?
- Which is the most effective way to cross the 'pond'?
SMALL-WORLD AREA
- Create a frog pond in miniature. Offer a builder's tray (Tuff Spot) or similar container.
- Pour water into the tray so that it immediately begins to resemble a pond.
- Gather together a selection of materials that children can use to create the small world. These should include several waterproof frog toys and a selection of unusual and interesting objects for children to explore and build a pond with. This would include pebbles, stones and gravel as well as imitation lily pads. Bubblewrap would make excellent pretend frogspawn.
- Display a frog life cycle.
- Offer small potted plants, to add to the pond atmosphere.
- Build the small world with the children, discussing the kind of environment that they are building and who might live there.
- Ensure that the children know that they can also access junk and found materials to add to the small world.
- TTS (www.tts-group.co.uk) sells an inflatable frog lifecycle (priced £13), which would be too large to use in the small world itself, but would be ideal for children to explore alongside this activity.
Learning opportunities
Story making
Problem solving
Sorting and classifying
Sequencing and ordering
Counting
Exploring the properties of materials
Responding in a variety of ways to what they see, think hear and feel
Adult role
The adult could add:
- clipboards, paper and pens for: mark-making, drawing, recording
- a camera and video camera for: capturing images from the small world to use for bookmaking filming children's own narratives, to share with others
- musical instruments for: creating sound effects for the small world creating musical patterns inspired by the hopping frogs, and sounds made around the pool
- a natural wood tunnel (which looks like a hollow log, £5 from www.yellow-door.net, tel: 0845 6035309) to increase the mathematical opportunities. Frogs can leap from the log, or hide under it, offering numerous problem-solving opportunities. Children can be encouraged to find a way of recording their number stories.
- laminated cards with the lyrics of 'Five Little Speckled Frogs' typed on them for:
SHARING TOGETHER
reading
singing
counting
frog glove puppet (www.puppetsbypost.com) for:
singing
counting
Water play
- Create unusual opportunities for mark-making by adding some blue floating gravel (£3 from www.yellow-door.net) to a deep water tray. You will also need some frog small-world figures.
- Show the children how to make patterns in the gravel by making the frogs 'swim' across the surface of the water.
Learning opportunities
Asking questions
Making marks
Developing gross and fine motor control
Adult role
- Support the children's explorations, playing and mark-making alongside
them.
- Help the children write the letters of their name, if they wish, or
their friends' names.
- Suggest that the children play games of 'Follow my leader'. One makes
a pattern with their frog, while another follows.
- Encourage creativity with the resources - what happens if the frogs
hop through the floating gravel?
- Place objects such as glass nuggets or pebbles at the bottom of the
water tray, so that children are encouraged to make marks, to reveal
what lies beneath.
- Photograph some of the patterns that the children make, and display
them near the water tray. This will inspire other children, and also
offer opportunities to revisit the activity through discussion.
- Encourage the children to sing while they are engaged in making marks,
providing their own words if necessary. For example, to the tune of
'Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush', they could sing:
My frog is swimming round and round, round and round, round and round
My frog is swimming round and round
Look at the pattern he's making ...
My frog is swimming up and down, up and down up and down ...
My frog is swimming in a straight line, in a straight line, in a
straight line ...
GRAPHICS AREA
- Provide a range of materials so that the children can make their own frog stories.
- Offer a range of green papers. Cut some into lily pad shapes for the children to make marks and write on.
- Frog pencil toppers are available from various suppliers, including www.partyexplosion.co.uk. Pop them on to the pencils that you usually have available, to give the children further inspiration.
- Writing frog facts with such a pencil, on a lily pad-shaped piece of paper, will really appeal to some children.
Learning opportunities
Co-operation and collaboration
Talk for a variety of purposes
Writing for a range of purposes
Linking sounds to letters
Adult role
- Respond positively and value children's independent attempts at writing.
- Plan shared writing sessions based on the children's own ideas, to demonstrate writing strategies and to help them develop an understanding of the relationship between spoken and written language.
- Provide a place for children to show off their writing, such as a large pond-shaped piece of paper on a display board, where children can put their lily pad writing. How many facts about frogs can they discover to add to the display?
- Ensure that children know that they can take writing and mark making materials outdoors.
BOOK AREA
- Obtain a selection of the books recommended in the Book Box (see right).
- Display the books as a collection that the children can readily access for themselves.
- Where possible, ensure that there are multiple copies of some of the books that prove the most popular. This will encourage children to share books together.
- Make sure that you plan to use the collection in read-aloud sessions, using non-fiction as well as fiction books. Discuss the pictures, pick out some fascinating facts and encourage the children to be the 'experts' and let them talk to you about what they already know.
- Add relevant comics and magazines to the book corner. Children may bring some of these into the nursery of their own accord.
Adult role
- Make time to observe the children who use the book corner, and their reading preferences.
- Encourage the children to use the books in other areas of the provision, including outdoors.
RESOURCE BOX: FANTASY PLAY
Collecting resource boxes around predictable early childhood interests ensures that practitioners are well equipped to respond when children show a fascination for a particular topic. You can add to such resource boxes as new items become available.
To support children's interest in frogs, gather together collections of:
- toy and model frogs made from various materials. This collection will form a useful starting point for many lines of investigation. Once displayed, children can be invited to add to this collection with items from home
- images of frogs, toads and newts from a variety of sources. Close-up photos of amphibians that live in Britain can be found on www.uksafari.com/amphibians
- frog puppets, both large and small, for a range of play activities (www.puppetsbypost.com)
- materials, so that children can explore the concept of being 'waterproof'
- springs, elastic and other materials that stretch for children to discuss and explore
- small-world frogs and their relatives - including exotic frogs, where possible
- books, rhymes and songs (see page 22)
Another fun resource for this theme is a frog guiro, for replicating croaking noises (£8.99, www.musicroom.com).
EXPLORING CHILDREN'S INTERESTS
Tuning in
Making time to talk to parents and carers is an important way of finding out about children's current interests and about what matters to them. Such information helps practitioners provide a curriculum that is relevant and meaningful.
Having an existing interest in a particular theme means that children approach it with enthusiasm and expertise, giving them confidence and increased motivation to engage in the activities provided. Children can use this expertise best in carefully planned, open-ended learning opportunities without prescribed uniform outcomes.
Enhancing provision
Any significant interest that a child or children may have should be explored by enhancing a setting's continuous provision - that is, by adding theme-based resources to the areas of provision that is available daily to children and should comprise:
- role play
- small-world play
- construction play
- sand and water
- malleable materials
- creative workshop area
- graphics area
- book area.
By taking this approach, children can choose to engage with the theme or pursue their own interests and learning independently. Adults need to recognise that children require a suitable length of time to explore any interests in depth and to develop their own ideas.
ADULT ROLE
If children's interests are to be used to create the best possible learning opportunities, the adult role is crucial.
Adults need to be able to:
- enhance continuous provision to reflect children's interests
- use enhancements to plan meaningful learning opportunities across all areas of the EYFS
- know when to intervene in children's play and when to stand back
- recognise that children will need a suitable length of time to explore any area of provision to develop their own ideas
- model skills, language and behaviours
- recognise how observation, assessment and reflection on children's play can enhance their understanding of what young children know and recognise how these should inform their future planning.
Areas of learning
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
BOOK BOX
Frogs have a well-deserved place in children's fiction. They are fascinating creatures, with a wealth of interesting characteristics that children's authors can put to very good use. They appear in a wide range of forms, including fairy stories and traditional tales. Don't expect them all to turn into princes!
For the early years practitioner, there is a wealth of books to choose from.
- The Frog Prince by Jess Stockham (Child's Play). This is a delightful version of the classic fairy tale about a princess who drops her ball into the pond, only to have it returned to her by a frog.
This is a story with a traditional happily-ever-after structure, but offers lots to talk about too. Issues such as trust, loyalty and judging others by appearance alone, are all questions to be contemplated after reading this tale.
- Down by the Cool of the Pool written by Tony Mitton and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees (Orchard Books). This book would be excellent to use in conjunction with your small-world play.
After reading this to the children, you may wish to incorporate musical instruments with the small-world play, so that the children can have their own pool party!
- The Trouble with Tadpoles written by Sam Godwin and illustrated by Simone Abel (Picture Window Books) and Growing Frogs written by Vivian French and illustrated by Alison Bartlett (Candlewick Press). Children who are fascinated by frogs and need to find out more will really enjoy these two great non-fiction texts.
Growing Frogs is also available on a CD - most unusual for a non-fiction text - and it will give children an opportunity to hear a non-fiction book read out loud 'on demand', if it is made available to them.
- Tiddalick: The Frog Who Caused a Flood by Robert Roennfeldt (Picture Puffin) or Tiddalick the Thirsty Frog retold by Mark Carthew (Collins Educational). No exploration of all things frog would be complete without the story of Tiddalick. This is an Aboriginal tale from Australia about a very thirsty frog who drinks up all the water. The other animals then have to find a way to persuade him to give it back!
- Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel. There is a whole series of these classics recounting the amusing adventures of best friends Frog and Toad. These books are excellent for sharing in small groups and also for children who enjoy reading short stories independently. The Frog and Toad Collection is published by HarperTrophy.
- The Wide Mouthed Frog by Ana Martin Larranga (Walker Books). There are many versions of this popular tale about a rather boastful frog, but I like this one in particular for its lively, rather comical illustrations.
- The Teeny Weeny Tadpole by Sheridan Cain and Jack Tickle (Little Tiger Press). Focusing on the early stages of the frog's life, this is a really enjoyable book, rich in playful language and full of beautiful illustrations. It is also possible to obtain a version of the book on CD, which you could make available for the children in the listening area. Ten Tiny Tadpoles by Debbie Tarbett (Little Tiger Press) would make a great partner for this text.
