Five Green and Speckled Frogs - Books You Can Sing

Five Green and Speckled Frogs - Illustrated by Constanza Basaluzzo
(Scholastic, Inc., 2008)

What do you get with five green speckled frogs, a great book, music, and a room full of children?

Silly, singing children having lots of fun.

This is one of the all time favorite songs and books of my kinders. No matter which version we sing, they love the story, melody, and motions. We read and sing through each as often as I can stand it.

Motions?
Of course. I always add or make-up and then add motions - the sillier, the better.

Props?
You bet. Some examples are:

~ large cardstock frogs that are colored and laminated. These are held up by five students and go down one by one as the frogs jump into the pool.

~ plastic toy frogs. Just what it sounds like. Those funny, greenish plastic tub or play toys. They love this activity when I also provide a blue towel (the cool pool) and a bumpy, messy log (the speckled log).

~ hand-made puppets. They love making their own green speckled frogs from paper plates, markers, felt, googly eyes, glue, and staplers. Tip: Fold paper plate in half, color the outside green, draw a red tongue on the inside (a strip of red construction paper works better), glue on googly eyes, and add a strap on the top outside to help students to grip the puppet.

Other ideas:

~ felt frog stickers on top of wide craft sticks

~ magazine frog cut-outs, glued to cardboard

~ oh, I almost forgot the absolute favorite - froggy bean bags

Music?

Definitely. Our favorites are Raffi and CJ's Fundamentals.

You will have so much fun, you may find yourself outside with a net, digging through mucky ponds, hoping to secure a green and speckled frog for your terrarium!