Tadpole and small world exploration day

Over the weekend Harry and I visited his Grandmother and discovered a little pond close to her house with thousands of tadpoles! Harry got very excited and so we decided that this is the perfect opportunity to introduce our toddlers to the life cycle of the frog. We started off by showing the little ones a little video clip by Paul McCartney that I LOVED as a toddler! It is magical and a beautiful song. You can check it out here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpevZ0-wUYQ

The children were enchanted and excited by the clip! We stacked "lily pads" pillows across the floor and the children did froggy jumps like the frogs in the clip; an excellent gross motor activity that assists with coordination and building core muscle strength.
The children then inspected the tadpoles...a wonderful experience. Constantia helped them "scoop" some tadpoles into a smaller glass that meant closer inspection. Over the weeks we will watch and document the tadpoles growing into froglets and fully grown frogs. 

We spread a blue cloth on the floor with various "swamp" props and encouraged the children to chat about the little stories that they were creating with the various creatures living there. The favourite creature was our wooden frog that makes a sound like a real frog when you stroke its back with a stick. This is a wonderful small world creation opportunity to encourage young children to talk, creatively share their ideas and make up stories. A fantastic imagination game.