Ribbit! Hop, hop, hop! Frogs and Polliwogs are the theme this week, and they're a great one to inspire a bit of indoor exercise as we jump and frog-hop at home. Thanks to the many digital resources available, we have great suggestions to inspire some frog-tastic fun with eBooks and more!
If you haven't signed up yet for Hoopla, they have some books you'll want to explore on the subject, so head over and get your free account. What's more, they have temporarily made several titles available outside of the usual 3 items per month limit until April 30! Look for the Bonus Borrows for several titles, including eBooks, movies, and music.
A great starting place on Hoopla is Frogs, by Gail Gibbons, which is an eRead-a-long. It's not a Bonus Borrow, but is a great book that will teach you all about tadpoles, frog noises, parts of the body and how they live.
Iza Trapani brings an old folk tune to life with the book, Froggy Went A-Courtin'. Sing through this book about a lovesick frog and his search for the perfect missus. Check it out this month!
The next titles are included in the Bonus Borrows Collection and can be checked out without using any of your Hoopla monthly borrows!
Bully, by Jennifer Sattler has a read-a-long that is included in this collection. Make sure you select the read-a-long version, as there are other copies of this book that are not included in the Bonus Borrows. At the top of the description it will say, "*This title is part of the hoopla BONUS BORROWS COLLECTION! For a limited time, this is one of 1000+ titles you can borrow without using any of your monthly hoopla Borrows!*" If it doesn't say this in the description, go to the next one until you find the read-a-long version.
If you're looking for a classic book for a child ready for a longer story line, Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel has a read-a-long that is also a Bonus Borrow. There are more than one copy of this book too, and only one is a read-a-long Bonus Borrow, so check the description.
Don't forget that you can also get movies and music from Hoopla too. If you have a fan of the movie, they have the soundtrack from Disney's Princess and the Frog that you can borrow for 7 days.
Overdrive has a couple of eBooks from our favorite froggy, including Froggy Goes to Bed and Froggy's Day with Dad by Jonathan London. If you already have some of Jonathan London's Froggy books at home, you can find a few titles in an audiobook format to accompany them.
KidzClub, highlighted on April 4th on Day by Day Virginia, has a read-a-long called Five Green Frogs as well as a free printable of the story. Print, color, and construct your own book, then read along.
No study of Frogs and Polliwogs would be complete without one of the most beloved frogs of all time, Kermit. In this old video from the Muppet Show, Kermit reminisces on his days as a polliwog, before he became a frog... and went into show business.
Finally, here are some rhymes, songs, and finger plays to liven up your week of frogs and polliwogs.
Little Tadpole
(To the tune: "Frere Jacques")
Little tadpole, little tadpole
Lost his tail, lost his tail.
First he had just two feet
Now he has four feet
Look a frog, look a frog!
Froggies on the Well
Five little froggies sitting on a well.
One looked in, and down he fell.
Froggies jumped high, froggies jumped low.
Four little froggies sitting on a well. etc
Mary Had a Little Frog
(To the tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Mary had a little frog, little frog, little frog
Mary had a little frog, it's skin was green as grass.
And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went,
Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went, the frog would
jump and splash.
Little Froggy
(Tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
See the little froggy swimming in the pool.
The water's great, it's nice and cool.
When he gets all cleaned up, out he'll hop.
Squeaky cleam from bottom to top.
See the little froggy, on the lily pad.
Trying to catch flies, she's getting sad.
When she catches one, she'll gobble it up
Back in the water she'll go , Kerplop!
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Five little speckled frogs sitting on a
speckled log
[5 fingers on bent arm]
eating the MOST delicious bugs, yum! yum!
[pick bugs out of air, rub tummy]
One jumped into the pool,
[finger hops in pool]
where it was nice and cool, Then there were
four speckled frogs!
[Continue with four frogs, then three, etc]
Then there were NO more speckled frogs!
I Have a Little Frog
I have a little frog, his name is Tiny Tim,
I put him in the bathtub, to see if he would
swim,
He drank up all the water, and gobbled up
the soap!
and when he tried to talk He had a bubble in
his throat!