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Home › Articles › Activities › Year of the Frog

Year of the Frog

Frog Activities, Outings and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers

By Beth Hering

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  • Whip up some frog-tastic treats together in the kitchen. Bake cookies using a frog-shaped cookie cutter, or turn cupcakes into frog faces by adding green frosting, chocolate chip eyes and a licorice tongue.
Frog Field Trips
  • Visit your local library for a reading marathon of books featuring frogs and other amphibians. A great place to start is Arnold Lobel's popular Frog and Toad series. Other books that youngsters may enjoy include The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta; A Boy, a Dog and a Frog by Mercer Mayer; The Caterpillar and the Polliwog by Jack Kent; and Bullfrog and Gertrude Go Camping by Rosamond Dauer.
  • Spend a day at the zoo and make a point of checking out the amphibian collection. The Houston Zoo, for example, is home to a variety of poison dart frogs, European green toads, Vietnamese mossy frogs, eyelash frogs, Panamanian golden frogs and others. Also, with 2008 designated by zoos throughout the world as the Year of the Frog, many facilities are featuring special presentations designed to educate and entertain visitors of all ages.
  • Venture to a local nature preserve to look and listen for frogs and other creatures. Bring along a picnic lunch and enjoy spending time in the wild.

As children learn about the environment and its creatures, they are bound to develop an appreciation of nature's wonders. Thus, celebrating National Frog Month is not just a great way to have fun as a family – it also may be a stepping-stone to raising kids who are interested in protecting their world.

Saving the Frogs

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) have designated 2008 as the Year of the Frog. According to Brian Hill, director of Public Affairs at the Houston Zoo, the organizations chose to spotlight frogs this year in the hope of raising public awareness of the plight of frogs and other amphibians.

"The relentless march of the chytrid fungus across Central and South America is devastating amphibian populations in its wake, and there's so little we know about it," says Hill. "We're facing a real prospect of seeing a mass extinction on the order of the dinosaurs unless something is done to stop this fungus."

Scientists have found a strong correlation between rising global temperatures and increased impact of the fungus. Since amphibians are cold-blooded, they can be very sensitive to environmental changes in temperature – leaving them less well-equipped to defend themselves against disease. Also, milder winters may be allowing the fungus to survive longer.

While it is hard to imagine a world without frogs, the World Conservation Union estimates that at least one-third of known amphibian species are threatened with extinction. To learn more about the problem and to pledge to be a Friend to Frogs, visit www.yearofthefrog.org.


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