Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XLVII · Topic 4: Batrachian study: toads, frogs and newts
47. The frog
Goal: Your child can compare a frog with a toad (skin, shape, legs, eggs) and describe how a frog's colors and slippery skin help it escape.
You'll need
- A pond, marsh or slow stream edge
- Binoculars (for frogs on the far bank)
- A small net and white dishpan (optional)
- Nature notebook
What's in the book
The leading thought, the method (study the frog where it lives, or in an aquarium with a stick or stone above the water) and about eleven questions comparing the frog with the toad: where it lives, its form and skin, colors and markings, ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth, hands and feet, slipperiness, food and enemies, its sounds and sound sacs, swimming and jumping, eggs and tadpoles, and winter. A long humorous poem, "Festina Lente", follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Spring through early fall at any pond edge. Walk slowly along the bank and watch for frogs that jump with a "plop" just ahead of you. On spring and summer evenings, listen for green frogs (a "gunk" like a loose banjo string) and bullfrogs (a deep "jug-o-rum"). Safety: an adult stays within arm's reach near any water, and keep off steep or slippery banks.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
The frog lives near or in ponds or streams. It is a powerful jumper and has a slippery body. Its eggs are laid in masses of jelly at the bottom of ponds.
Where is it?
Where is the frog found? Does it live all its life in the water? When found on land how and where does it seek to escape?
Count the frogs you see along one stretch of bank.
Frog and toad
Compare the form of the frog with that of the toad. Describe the skin, its color and texture. Compare the skin of the two.
Think back to Lesson XLV: dry and warty, or smooth and wet?
Hiding
Describe the colors and markings of the frog on the upper and on the under side. How do these protect it from observation from above? From below? How do we usually discover that we are in the vicinity of a frog?
A frog is dark above (like the pond bottom, seen by a heron) and pale below (like the bright sky, seen by a fish).
Jumping and slipping
How does this slipperiness of the frog benefit it?
Is it a better jumper than the toad?
Amphibians breathe partly through their damp skin, so sunscreen, soap or bug spray on our hands can hurt them. If you must hold one, wet your clean hands first, hold it gently and low over the ground for a minute or two, then put it back where you found it. Wash your hands with soap afterward, and keep them away from eyes and mouth until you do.
Voices
What sounds does the frog make?
Comstock also asks where its sound sacs are and how they look when puffed up. Watch a calling green frog or bullfrog through binoculars: its throat swells like a balloon.
Nature notebook
Draw a frog and a toad side by side and label three differences. Ask your child to tell you the leading thought in their own words, then share Comstock's. Comstock adds: study frog tadpoles using the questions in Lesson XLIV.
Afterwards
Read the funny poem "Festina Lente" on the page aloud, about frogs who want to cut off the tadpoles' tails to hurry them up. Ask: What does "festina lente" (make haste slowly) mean?
Tip
On this page questions 6 to 11 are set in an unusual layout, so read them straight from the book page beside you.