Materials
The Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulknergreen construction paper frog cutoutspipe cleanersglue
Velcro stripspencilwhite sheet of paperstring
Instructions
1. Ask the children what they know about frogs. "What do they like to eat?" "What makes a frog a good flycatcher?"2. Read the book The Wide Mouthed Frog to the children. Encourage them to say the repeated text and ask what the surprise was at the end of the story.
3. After reading the story, ask how a frog's tongue works.
4. Have the children work in pairs to make a frog. Give each pair a paper frog cutout. Show them how to glue on a pipe cleaner tongue and attach a piece of Velcro to it.
5. Then invite the children to cut out a fly from white paper and attach a piece of Velcro to it. Help them attach string to the fly.
6. Encourage the children to practice trying to catch a fly with their frog's tongue. One child holds the string of the fly while the other child uses the frog to catch the fly. The child holding the fly may move it to make it more challenging.
7. Ask the children how many flies they could catch in a minute if they were frogs.
8. Write down their predicted numbers on a piece of paper and then time the children for one minute each while they try to catch flies.
9. After the first child in a pair tries, have them switch roles and repeat the procedure.
10. Ask why they think they got better at fly catching and if their predictions were correct about how many flies they thought they would catch.
