Tadpole to Frog

crayola supplies

Erasable Colored Pencils
Markers
Model Magic®

household supplies

white paper

Why?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! What animals change more than tadpoles? Show the life stages of frogs in this hopping biology project.

Steps

1. Your body may change every day, but you have the same limbs and you have breathed in the same way since birth. Frogs, however, start out underwater with a tail and end up on land tail-less with four legs!
2. With a partner, find out more about this fascinating growth process. With Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils, jot down notes about each stage and sketch the features you will include on your models. Just erase if you need to correct your drawing or spelling.
3. Shape brown Crayola Model Magic into a newly hatched tadpole. (Or knead brown color from a Crayola Washable Marker to white Model Magic.) Its gills look like tiny tentacles at this stage.
4. Form a more mature tadpole whose hind legs have appeared and head bulges where future front legs will grow. Add some green Model Magic or knead green color from a washable marker to show the slight change in hue.
5. Blend in more green to create the third stage of life for this fascinating amphibian. This creature’s tail gets shorter as its front legs appear.
6. Next the immature frog’s eyes seem to grow bigger while the tail all but disappears. Front and back legs become stronger and more functional.
7. The final frog is all green with ready-to-leap limbs, nostrils for breathing, and a wide mouth for snatching bugs.
8. Color a pond for your frog display. The next time you see or hear a frog, explain what you’ve learned about a frog’s life to your companions!

adaptations

Label your display with information including actual size and time since hatching. A picture or model of the frog’s egg sac could be included to completely round out the circle. Draw a changing background to illustrate the journey from pond to bank.

Research other animals that transform as they age. Compare lifecycles, stages, and time periods. On a world map, identify where these animals live.

Write a short story, play, or song about the feelings of a tadpole as it ages into a frog.

Assessment: Verify details of each life stage including body parts, colors, proportions, and shapes.

benefits

Students work with a partner to research the life cycle of the frog and note and sketch each stage’s details.

Students represent the amphibian’s growth process in a 3-D display of realistic sculptures.

grades

Grades 1 to 3
Grades 4 to 6

subjects

Science
Visual Arts

time

30 to 60 minutes
Multiple Sessions

curriculum standards links

US: Research U.S. Standards
UK: Research UK Standards
Canada: Research Canada Standards

safety guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.