Ribbit! Splash!
Frogs seem to be everywhere this summer! We see them in the grass hopping all over and have saved too many to count from our pool. My kids are slightly obsessed with the super cute baby frogs that have recently made an appearance, so it was so much fun creating a Frog Splashing Pond Small World for them to play with!
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Water play is my very favorite form of sensory play {and I think my preschooler would agree with me!}. Not only is it always on hand, water sensory play is usually easy to put together quickly.
In the splashing pond, we used materials found outside along with a few store bought items:
- bin for water
- larger rocks (not pebbles)
- plastic frogs (this set from Amazon was perfect!)
- turf welcome mat
- marbles
- craft foam
In the automotive or the garden area of our dollar store, they have these turf feeling welcome mats. I cut the length of the mat to make it skinnier and it fit perfectly in our plastic bin! It created that darker bottom of our pond and it made the small world so much more realistic!
My preschooler and I collected rocks from around our bushes and placed them under the water and coming up out of the water, so the frogs would have tons of places to climb and jump. We added marbles as frog eggs and I hid them under and along the edge of the rocks.
The lily pads were made from different shades of green craft foam. Craft foam is so versatile – it floats, it can be used as reusable stickers on windows and on contact paper, and little fingers can work with craft foam pieces without the worry that it will rip or become crumpled like paper!
Now it was time to add the frogs!
My preschooler placed the frogs under the water, on the rocks, on the lily pads, and tried to make them climb all over. Exploring and investigating started happening right away. She wanted to see how many frogs each lily pad could hold. She tried to see if the frogs could float on their own.
After trying to figure out the frogs in their new habitat, my preschooler settled into play. Just play. Small worlds promote vocabulary, conversation, the use of imagination, and creativity. There is nothing better than watching her sing to the frogs (her own version of 5 Speckled Frogs) and seeing her imagination at work. The frogs went shopping, played as a family, and they were all baby frogs at some point. All 3 of my kids played with the frogs – love how small world play is fun for all ages!
This post is part of the Small World Pretend Play Ideas from A to Z series hosted over at Still Playing School! I’ll be posting again later this month, so check back to see all the fun ideas!
I just love that craft foam floats – it makes perfect lily pads!
This looks like so much fun! My kids will love it!