🐸 How does a frog breathe through its skin?

Frogs grow from tadpoles into frogs, which is pretty amazing. Let's meet the singer of the pond.

📷 A tree frog sitting on a branch. Look at its round eyes and toe tips.

What kind of animal is the frog?

Frogs are amphibians that live both in water and on land. In spring, they lay eggs in the water. The tadpoles that hatch breathe with gills and live underwater. First back legs appear, then front legs, and the tail gets shorter and shorter, until at last it becomes a frog that breathes with lungs and climbs onto land.

Frogs breathe not only with their lungs but also through their thin, moist skin. If their skin dries out, breathing becomes hard, so frogs always stay near water or damp places. That's also part of why you hear frogs so loudly on rainy days.

A frog catches insects like flies and mosquitoes by quickly flicking out its sticky tongue. Males puff up the vocal sacs on their throats or cheeks like balloons and call loudly to attract a mate. Some tree frogs can even change their body color a little to match their surroundings.

🔍 Things to observe

• Look at the order in which a tadpole grows into a frog in a picture book or video.
• Watch how a frog's throat puffs up when it calls.
• Look at the shape of the tips of a frog's toes and its webbed feet.

🖍️ Tips for drawing together with your child

• Draw two round eyes bulging out on top of a wide body.
• Draw the folded back legs big, so it looks ready to jump.
• Paint lots of green and add lily pads and raindrops, and Uncle Ribbit will start to sing.

💬 Let's talk about it

• What does a tadpole turning into a frog remind you of?
• Why might frogs be happy on rainy days?

🏪 In the game: Uncle Ribbit