At-Home STEM Activities: Life Cycle of a Frog
Dreaming of summer trips to the beach? This week we’re exploring different aspects of aquatic systems. In this STEM module, we will learn about the life cycle of a frog and try out some fun activities to test out what we learned!
Begin by watching the video below produced by Peekaboo Kidz.
Life Cycle of a Frog Explained
A life cycle refers to the stages or changes that an animal goes through while it’s alive. A life cycle repeats itself, or goes in a circle, for each new generation of life. A frog goes through five stages of life. In each stage, it changes and grows.
Metamorphosis is another word for the changes an animal makes during its life cycle. During a frog’s metamorphosis, an egg will hatch into a tadpole, which will then develop back legs first, then front legs, and become a full grown adult frog! Check out the process below about how a frog develops during its life.
Wood frog with a mass of fertilized eggs, Image Credit: John White
Stage 1: Egg
Frogs lay fertilized eggs. That’s where new frogs come from. A female frog can lay up to 4,000 eggs at a time! The eggs float on water in a jelly mass or cluster. The eggs hatch in one to three weeks into tadpoles!
Tadpoles, image Credit: MarjanNo from Pixabay
Stage 2: Tadpole
Then a tadpole hatches from an egg. When the tadpole hatches, it looks more like a fish than a frog. A tadpole lives in water. It uses gills to breathe and it has no legs. The tadpole swims, eats plants and algae from the water, and grows for several weeks.
Stage 3: Froglet
A tadpole with legs is considered a froglet, Image credit: Foundation for Biomedical Research
During this time, the tadpole starts to develop lungs so it will be able to breathe out of the water when it becomes a frog. The tadpole also starts to grow two hind legs. At this point, the tadpole can now be considered a froglet. The froglet can leap around instead of only swim. Although the froglet is starting to look a little more like a frog, it still has a very long tail!
Stage 4: Young Frog
A young frog
The froglet grows two front legs and its long tail becomes shorter and shorter. The tadpole uses the nutrients stored in its tail as food, so until its tail is completely gone, it doesn’t need anything else to eat! Then just a little stub of its tail is left, and the froglet is a young frog. It hops right out of the water and onto dry land for the first time! The frog is still very small.
An Adult frog, Image Credit: National Parks Service
Stage 5: Adult Frog
The frog’s tail will eventually disappear completely and it will start to eat insects instead of plants from the water. The young frog will grow for about 2-4 years to become an adult. The adult frogs then lay their eggs and more tadpoles hatch and begin the cycle again!
Activities
The Life Cycle of a Frog Worksheet
Click the button above to download the Life Cycle of a Frog worksheet you see to the right. Use scissors and glue to match the life cycle stage to its correct position in a frog’s life cycle. Worksheet by Tim’s Printables
Frog Fun with Food
I also loved this fun frog’s life cycle themed snack! Try this out at home to continue the fun and eat some yummy treats! The activity uses apples, grapes, shredded carrot, spinach and raisins, but these ingredients can be substituted for whatever you have around the house. Activity from teachbesideme.com
Fun Facts:
Frogs are amphibians, which means that they can live in water or on land. They go through several stages of life before they become adult frogs and during those stages, they live only in water.
Frogs and toads are carnivores or insectivores, which means that they will eat meat or living insects. Small to medium sized frogs eat insects such as flies, mosquitoes, moths and dragonflies. Larger frogs will eat larger insects like grasshoppers and worms. Some large frogs will even eat small snakes, mice, baby turtles, and even other smaller frogs!
There are over 5,000 species of frogs!
Frogs don’t need to drink water because they absorb it through their skin.
