Frogspawn. What can we say about frogspawn. It’s not my favourite activity on the list of 50 things to do before you’re 11 and 3/4, but the kids loved it. I clearly don’t value their education enough to bring frog spawn home – sorry kids – but fortunately between all the ponds we frequent, we were able to do pretty well with finding and charting the different stages of frog life.
If you want to go all educational on your kids, Twinkl has a lovely Frog Life Cycle chart to help aid their learning. It’s quite exciting knowing and identifying what comes next.
But more than that, there’s this thing about frogs and bugs. You know the rhyme about what little girls and boys are made of, right?
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What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?Snips and snails
And puppy-dogs’ tails,That’s what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?Sugar and spice
And everything nice,That’s what little girls are made of.
Suffice it to say no one told my girls that. Goodness, how Ameli loves playing with slimy worms and frogs.
And it’s okay. It’s good for her. Not great for me, mind, but good for her.
Digging around in the dirt chasing worms, fishing around in the (relatively clean and not too stagnant) water is good for her. It exposes her to bacteria in her environment. It strengthens her immune system. It feeds her curiousity about the world she lives in, and teaches her compassion for creatures great and small. It teaches her life lessons – like that putting worms and other insects in a bug box and leaving them in a nice sunny spot doesn’t have a good ending… sorry for the worms, but at least it wasn’t a cat or dog. A big lesson learned with minimal pain and guilt (to her. I’m very sorry for the worms.)
We’re completing the National Trust’s #50Things campaign because, well, it’s great. This was number 32: Find some frogspawn on their list. You can see the full list here.