Tadpoles At the Pond

It was tadpole day with Mother Goose Time and we asked a lot of questions.  I paid extra attention to the answers I was given as we worked through all the discussion questions.

We started with "How is a tadpole like a frog?  How is it different from a frog?"  I had already handed out the craft for the day, so it took me a while to get an answer on this one.  But finally I was told that tadpoles don't have legs and frogs do but that tadpoles have tails and frogs don't.

 Peter made a rainbow tadpole but was a bit sad that he somehow left out yellow.

I cut apart the pattern set and thought I would try it with Adam this month.  Instead of having him continue the pattern, I had him match the pattern.

 So he matched the bottom picture to the top picture on the pattern strip.

 From there I had him continue the pattern.  I put the frog eggs down after the frog and asked him what came next while pointing to the first picture of frog eggs in the pattern.  He was able to figure it out and he grabbed the tadpole picture and put it in place.  So we continued and finished another full set of the pattern.

 At this point Peter had his Tadpole Dancer done and then I asked the discussion question.  "How can you move your hand through the air?"

Then Mother Goose Time had us ask, "What do you think happens if you wave your hands back and forth quickly in the water?"  I added "Is it harder or easier?"  This is where Lachlan gave me an awesome answer, "It's harder because the water pushes against you."  Then I explained that it's called resistance.  And now we have covered physics.

Lachlan decided he would make a Tadpole Dancer after all and tested it out making shapes in the air.

Next we got out our My Little Journals and I decorated our covers.  First I showed them how to color their finger tip with a marker, then press it to the paper to make a finger print dot, then add a tail to make it look like a tadpole. Here is Lachlan's which has three tadpoles swimming towards the surface towards their Mom.

Peter did the back of the journal first, which had a little maze.

 Then he got to work on his journal cover.

 He had to tell me all about his picture, sadly I was multitasking and didn't really listen to all the details.  Come on Tracy!!

I believe, he drew the full life cycle of a frog.  Oh and something about tadpoles jumping, which is what the arrow is for.

Now everyone was getting anxious to get outside and ride bikes.  The sun was out and I thought it was a good idea.  So I completed the Closing Time section on the go.  I talked with Peter about what he thought might be fun and might be scary about being a tadpole.  He didn't seem to be able to think of what would be fun, so I answered.  Living in the water would be fun!  He said the scary part would be "all the predators."

 I played the "I'm Sorry" song on my phone.

Then I asked what he thought a tadpole might say to another tadpole if they bumped into each other.  We talked about how we should say I am sorry if we accidentally hurt someone.  Then I asked what he should say if some one says I am sorry.  His response "it's okay."  That is the typical response of course but I coached him by saying you can also say "I forgive you."  We talked about how it feels good to be forgiven when we make mistakes.

Lachlan was already out the door riding bikes, but Peter and I had this chat as we were getting ready to head out.  I punched out three of the "Forgiving Feathers" and handed one to Peter.  Then off we went outside. The Tadpole Dancer came out with us and made for a perfect kitty toy.

I have said it a thousand times, but I love the discussion questions and all the conversations they start.  If I could give a parent of a toddler or preschooler any advice, it would be this, ask more questions and wait and really listen to their answers.  You will not regret it!  Getting a glimpse inside their mind is priceless!  They are capable of so much more than we realize.