5 GREEN LITTLE SPECKLED FROGS!
Let’s get on with some home learning and have some crafty, singing-a-long fun!
Do you remember the nursery rhyme ‘5 green little speckled frogs?’ It’s a funny little song where it helps kids with their counting skills, counting back from 5.
Whilst children are learning from home, because of lockdown and teachers are making videos to assist them, this easy nursery rhyme is one to consider, especially when you can turn it into a fun, art lesson too!
So who said Home learning is boring! we can be as creative as we want. I’ve included kids nursery video to remind you how the song goes.
Watch this short video that demo’s this.
In this song it shows another way to subtract, or take-away. It’s a clever way to use frogs, as they would jump off a log into the pool, counting backwards one by one.
At the same time whilst singing this song you can use your fingers, holding up 5 and drop down each finger from 5, 4,3,2,1 and then there were none, holding up a fist.
So I’d like to do an activity using recycled material to demo it.
What have we got a lot of that we can pull together and make some quick and easy inner tube frogs?.
Well, once again I looked deep in my recycling bag and found loads of toilet inner tubes that would make perfect frogs.
Don’t have any, then wait until you have collected at least 15 tubes, then we can get started.
This activity would make a perfect ‘Home learning‘ project a craft/number lesson in subtraction aimed at the very young, all the way down to ages 2 even younger.
It’s a catchy tune and kids can pick it up quite easily. The visual side of it makes it fun and the prompts used here, are the frogs.
Our aim is to make 5 little green speckled frogs out of inner tubes. So let’s get started.
RESOURCES!
3 inner tubes (to make 1 frog)
Acrylic paints. Green, or White, yellow, blue, pink.
Stapler.
Large Scissors.
Stanley knife.
Paint brushes.
Black felt tip pens.
Dark to light green felt tips.
Glue stick.
HOW TO MAKE!
HERE ARE SOME HELPFUL TIPS!
- Staple one end of the tube, allowing a gap on each side to push in the stick part of the eyes.
- When you staple the legs on the tube, make sure they are slightly higher than the end bit, so that the frog will sit flat and not roll over.
- When painting the frog, go for green, but if you don’t have that colour than make it up with any combination blues and yellows.
- A good pair of large scissors is best here as it would help you cut the tubes a bit more easily being they are made out of thick composit card.
- When making the tongue, wrap the long strip around a pen which will help with the curling.
- When painting the tongue, paint before curling, allow to dry first.
- Some tubes are made in diagonal strips, so when cutting they can curl up, to avoid this try to find tubes that are smoothe throughout, failing this stick them down with glue stick if they peel back.
- The coloured felt tips help to define the eyes, giving them more of a sharper finish.
- Remember you will need at least 15 inner tubes, one for the body, one for the legs and one for the eyes and tongue.
- Some tubes are white on the inside, these ones can be used for the eyes, as you need the white base to paint on the eye ball. If you do not have any with white inside, when you are ready to do the eyes, you may need to use white acrylic paint to give you that finish.
- As a cautionary measure an adult may be needed to assist with cutting the mouth, when using the stanley knife.
LET’S RECAP!
Recycling our throw outs has always been my motivation to re-use and make fun kids craft. I found that there is always an abundance of toilet or kitchen towel inner cardboard tubes that are brillilant shapes and easy material to work with.
I have mentioned before, that inner tubes will be used time and time again for quite a few projects, because of their versatility.
In this post, I have shown you how ro make, easy frogs which are highlighted in the nursery rhyme, ‘5 green little speckled frogs’
It is a great way to sing a long with your kids and use your frogs as prompts, aiding in counting and making it fun.
Especially now, we have to do a lot more home learning, this is a super way to get your kids to become creative and make counting a fun, enjoyable, an interactive activity whilst singing at the same time.
This activity doesn’t have to be strained, it could be done at leisure whenever you want, so don’t let the alarm bells go off, the power is in your hands. We can make counting fun and I bet the little ones will take over!
So start saving your inner tubes and let’s get creative!
You’re right about kids having to learn at home now. It’s become a new way for them to learn. The easy inner tube frogs is a great idea for kids. I think I will show this to my son and see if he wants to do it. You really lay out all the necessary supplies and steps for making them. This makes it easy to follow along. Thank you for the idea and the very detailed post!
So glad you liked the ideas behind this post, even more so now with learning at home. I thought marrying the making of the inner tube frogs,
with the singing of the nursery rhyme, tied in really well.
Initially in supporting the early years children with their home learning, we just had to sing a song, but knowing how kids are and can loose
concentration very easily, capturing their attention with little props like the frogs, would definately make them stop, look and listen!
So, why not have a go, just make sure you collect 15 tubes!
I am also glad you can follow my instructions step by step, I try to make it as simple as possible to follow.
It would also be nice, if you decide to go ahead with this project with your son, to add his creation into my post in an update!
I Appreciate your comments Justin and thanks for your feedback.?
What an adorable craft idea! My kids love the 5 Little Speckled Frogs song so they would get a kick out of making 5 little crafted frogs to play along with to the song.
Your directions with all the pictures and steps are so thorough. This will be perfect to reference if we have any troubles with crafting. Very helpful!
I love your focus on using recycled material for kids’ crafts. I enjoy doing eco friendly crafts with my kids so this will be a great resource to come back to!
So glad you liked the idea I presented here, it just made sense. Kids like and can adhere to visual props and will dive in with the singing.
Sometimes I can’t help myself I find, I can capture kids attention when I put myself into the role, or kind of clown around. It allows them to forget
about being shy, hence dropping their barriers and start to participate too!
Also I am happy to hear you like the use of recycled materials, we have become a throw-away nation and
should start to respect and appreciate our enviroment by doing our bit, even if it means re-using or up-cycling anything into something alternative or
have a useful purpose, even if it is in crafts!
Thanks for your comment, Leah and it’s good to know you got something out of this post!?
Hi Julia,
These ideas are adorable, 5 little speckled frogs is always been the most favorite finger counting song.
Your idea of creating a frog from inner tube is super interesting, your efforts to illustrate and direct each step is so clean and thorough this will definitely add more fun while studying and kids will enjoy learning.
Studies from home for little kid is difficult to handle but your ideas will help and excite them to study more rhymes and learn the basics in a great way.
Thanks
Cheers!
Hi Samamntha so pleased you enjoyed this post. I find you have to get into a childs mindset and literally think what they would enjoy. Capturing a childs attention is one thing and what I find works
is whilst singing to perform or find props to entertain them, that usually works and you are right it’s all about having fun while learning it stays with them more and before you know it they start
to sing songs at the most odd times! So start saving your throw-outs and get cracking with some super song ideas.
Do pop in now and again, I try to offer as much stimulation as I can with new projects.
Thanks a bunch.
Julia.