Living Root Garden School • Creatures Great & Small • Name: ______________________
🔍 The Case
The case of the jelly blobs in the pond — something laid eggs that turned into swimmers, then hoppers. Follow the makeover.
Look for frogspawn in the water — a clump of eggs wrapped in clear jelly, like tiny water balloons with a baby under construction inside. The eggs hatch into tadpoles: all tail, no legs, breathing through gills like a fish and grazing on algae.
Tell a frog from a toad: a frog has smooth, moist skin and long back legs built for big jumps, and loves being near water. A toad is dry, bumpy, and waddly, with shorter legs — and big bump glands behind its eyes called parotoid glands that ooze a bitter taste. Every toad is really a frog in a rugged disguise.
Remember the sponge skin: a frog doesn't sip water — it soaks it up through its belly, through a patch sometimes called the drinking patch. Skin that soaks up water also soaks up pesticides and pollution, which is why frogs are called indicator species — when frogs are thriving, the water and soil are clean.
Go at dusk — that's frog o'clock. Sit quietly near the water as the light fades and just listen: every species has its own call. And if you touch one, wet your hands first — dry hands pull moisture straight out of frog skin and hurt them.
Ask: If you sit quietly by the water at dusk, what will you find first — a tadpole, a froglet, or a grown frog? Write your guess before you go.
Try: Dip-net a pond or ditch with a grown-up, look at what you catch in a jar, and release everything the same day, right where you found it. Eyes only for frogs and toads — never move tadpoles or frogs between ponds.
Stretch (Teens & Growers ready for more): Research why frogs are indicator species and write up one local example — what would it mean for your neighborhood if the frogs disappeared?
Tell: Fill in the log below — date, what you saw, what surprised you — then finish this sentence in words or a labeled drawing: “The froglet had ___ because ___.”
Date
What I saw
What surprised me
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
Date: ____/____/____
🛠️ Build It
Draw the biggest thing you caught in the dip net, swimming in its jar, with the spot you released it marked on a little map.
🗣️ Be the Teacher
Tell someone how to tell a frog from a toad, and why wet hands matter if you ever touch one — in your own words.
🏅 I can…
☐ I can tell a frog from a toad — and I know why frogs mean clean water.
Portfolio check
☐ Guide read
☐ Case solved
☐ Ask, Try, Tell done
☐ Build It filed: Dip notes + release record
☐ Taught someone
☐ Badge earned: I can tell a frog from a toad — and I know why frogs mean clean water.
Living Root Garden School • livingrootgarden.com/homeschool/ • Free — print as many copies as you like. File this sheet with your portfolio log. Sprouts do the Read, the Case, and Build It; Growers try the Ask, Try, Tell stretch when ready; Teens do the whole packet — including teaching it back.