Frogs and Toads: Part 2

We started off this day by building a bigger habitat for the tadpoles. Also, it turns out we actually have eight. I missed one! 

Books: 

• The Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book about Animal Habitats by Patricia Relf
• True or False: Amphibians by Melvin and Gilda Berger
• The Fascinating World of...Frogs and Toads by Maria Angels Julivert (Barron's Publishing)
• Reptiles and Amphibians Field Guide: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan by Stan Tekiela

Activities:

• Tadpole Habitat. We took a large storage container and added about 4 inches of water to the bottom (a mix of spring water and some pond water, complete with mosquito larvae). After adding a rock and some bark, we put the jar containing the tadpoles in the water. We let it set for a couple of hours to allow them to acclimate to the temperature. Then we released them, and added a couple bits of boiled spinach. It was nice to see them spread out and have more room to swim. We also noticed the teeny beginnings of back legs on a couple of them. 

• Frog Puzzle. 24 piece puzzle of a Red-eyed tree frog that I found at the Dollar Tree. I'm teaching Evie to identify corner and edge pieces and to sort those out first.

• Listen to frog sounds. Here is one of the sites we used: https://www.in.gov/dnr/kids/5914.htm. Evie found some of them quite hilarious. We also tried to imitate them. Hopefully the next time we are up at our property, we will be able to identify more of the frog calls around us. 

• We re-watched David Attenborough's (whom she inexplicably calls David Raisin) Fabulous Frogs. Evie said she wanted to watch "the documentary where the frog burps up babies." She found the Darwin Frog's method of parenting to be extremely entertaining, since the male carries the eggs in a throat sac as they hatch and develop. He then seemingly...burps the babies out. She's not wrong...

• Frog life cycle: We put up the life cycle of the frog on the playroom wall. Evie loves both using tape and putting up decorations. We put it right at eye level for her. 

• Frog coloring! We did frog coloring pages, dot to dot and tracing. 

• Catching frogs and toads: We found many on our property, including American toads, a wood frog, and a green frog. We caught each one, examined it, and then let it go. 

Bonus: Other finds at the property. A young Four-toed salamander. I took a picture of his bright white, speckled underbelly.

A green caterpillar. I believe it is either a Luna or Polyphemus moth. It's still quite small to tell (probably 2nd instar), so we are trying out maple, birch and oak leaves to see what it will eat.



We also found the biggest Red Velvet Mites I have ever seen!