Frogs!

Storytime theme: Frogs

Books used:

Beware of the Frog by William Bee

I know you've heard of a guard dog before, but what about a guard frog? This book explores that idea exactly. The title character, sweet little old lady Mrs. Collywobbles, is protected by a variety of nasty characters by her little unassuming pet guard frog. This book has a very strange ending where Mrs. Collywobbles is transformed into a frog in the end and then eats her little pet guard frog...which is really...weird. I usually will just end the story at the part where Mrs. Collywobbles is transformed into a little old lady frog, because the next page get a little too dark and weird for my preschool audiences. Some people don't like to use the story because the of the ending, but I think it can easily be modified to meet your needs. Older kids might get a kick out of the original ending.

999 Tadpoles by Ken Kimura, illustrated by Yasunari Murakami

999 little tadpoles and their two frog parents quickly outgrow the small pond that they call home. They head out on a journey in search of a new pond that can accommodate everyone comfortably- but what they don't expect is the adventure that ensues after Father frog is swooped up by a hungry hawk! In the end all the frogs come out unscathed, and they are able to find a bigger pond to call home.

The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner, illustrated by Jonathan Lambert

This is a fun and short little pop-up book that I picked up from Amazon. The story is a simple one, a wide-mouthed frog comes across a variety of other animals and learns about the unique foods that they like to eat. The detail of each different animal is really beautiful, and there isn't too much text so you can memorize the words on each page to amp up the suspense factor about what animal that is next. In the end, the wide-mouthed frog meets a big alligator with sharp teeth, whose favorite meal is wide-mouthed frogs! The ending is quite silly, and I liked including the pop-up aspect of this story which really captures your audiences' attention a little differently than a traditional picture book.

I Don't Want to be a Frog by Dev Petty, illustrated by Mike Boldt

I Don't Want to be a Frog is a funny picture book that mostly is written as a conversation been a son and father frog. The son frog compares himself to a slew of other animals, and why he'd rather be like them instead of having the characteristics that make him frog. Because of the way this book is written, it is important to establish two distinct voices when reading it aloud in order to distinguish between the two main characters (otherwise the story can get confusing). In the end, the son frog realizes that it's good to be a frog after talking to a hungry wolf who informs him that all of the other animals he wants to be like are all his favorite kinds to eat, but that he doesn't like to eat frogs. The illustrations are big and colorful, which helps to make it engaging when using it during storytime.

A Frog in Bog by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Joan Rankin

I love almost all of Karma Wilson's picture books- she has a beautiful way with words, and A Frog in the Bog is no exception. This book follows the story of a frog in a bog who eats a variety of different types of bog bugs. In the end we find out that the frog wasn't sitting on a bog at all, but a half submerged alligator! While the frog has his mouth wide open in shock from this revelation, all of the eaten bugs have the chance to escape from the frog's belly. The moral of the story is those half-sunk logs in bogs may not be logs at all! Wilson's lyrical language makes this story a joy to read and listen to.

Activities:

Ukulele song: Froggy Went A Courtin'

This is a classic folk song that has had many versions and derivations recorded and sang over the years by many musicians (Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley- just to name a few!). I became obsessed with this song after seeing this National Film Board of Canada animated cartoon, Mr. Frog went a-courting, on YouTube:

I know what you're thinking- this song isn't exactly the most preschool kid friendly, especially in the above version where everyone gets eaten up by the snake in the end! The beauty of these types of folk songs is that they encourage transformation and adaptation by each person who sings them, and if you listen to just a couple of version recorded by different artists over the years, you will see that each version is similar but generally unique to the artist. You can read more about the history of this song, and see a long list of musicians who have recorded it over the years on the song's Wikipedia page.

I decided to play this song on my ukulele for storytime. I used the chords for Bob Dylan's version of the song, which I found on Ultimate Guitar. The chords basically repeat the same every verse, so you are free to alter the lyrics to whatever works best for you.

I used the following lyrics during my storytimes:

Froggy Went A Courtin'

Froggy went a courtin' and he did ride, uh huh, uh huh

Froggy went a courtin' and he did ride,

A sword and pistol by his side, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

He rode up to Miss Mousie's door, uh huh, uh huh,

He rode right up to Miss Mousie's door, uh huh, uh huh,

He rode right up to Miss Mousie's door,

Where he had been many times before, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

He said, "Miss Mousie are you within?", uh huh, uh huh,

He said, "Miss Mousie are you within?",

"Yes kind sir, I sit and spin", uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

He took Miss Mousie on his knee, uh huh, uh huh,

He took Miss Mousie on his knee,

Said, "Miss Mousie will you marry me?", uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

Where will the wedding supper be? uh huh, uh huh,

Where will the wedding supper be?

Way down yonder in a hollow tree, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

Well first to come was a bumblebee, uh huh, uh huh,

Well first to come was a bumblebee,

He danced a jig with a two-legged flea, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

Next to come was a big black snake, uh huh, uh huh,

Next to come was a big black snake,

He ate up all of the wedding cake! uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

A piece of cornbread on the shelf, uh huh, uh huh,

A piece of cornbread on the shelf,

If you want anymore you can sing it yourself! uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

Action Rhyme: Croak said the Frog

I found this cute action rhyme from Storytime Katie.

Croak said the frog, (make croaking sound) With his golden eyes. (fists up to eyes)

Sitting on a lily pad, (crouch on the ground) Catching flies. (grab air with hand)

I have a sticky tongue, (stick out tongue) It’s as fast as can be…

And I catch the mosquitoes (catch bugs again), 1-2-3. (count on three fingers)

Ukulele Song: Mm-Ah Went the Little Green Frog One Day

I first heart this song from the awesome ladies over at Jbrary. I got the ukulele chords for the song from Storytime Ukulele.

Mm-Ah Went the Little Green Frog One Day

Mm ah went the little green frog one day. Mm ah went the little green frog.

Mm ah went the little green frog one day. And they all went mmm, mmm, ahh.

But we all know frogs go la-de-da-de-da, La-de-da-de-da, la-de-da-de-da. We know frogs go la-de-da-de-da. They don't go mmm, mmm, ahh. Bloop bloop went the little blue fish one day. Bloop bloop went the little blue fish.

Bloop bloop went the little blue fish one day. And they all went bloop, bloop, bloop.

But we all know fish go kissy-kissy-kiss, Kissy-kissy-kiss, kissy-kissy-kiss. We know fish go kissy-kissy-kiss. They don't go bloop, bloop, bloop.

Grr grr went the big brown bear one day,

Grr grr, went the big brown bear.

Grr grr went the big brown bear one day,

And they all went grr, grr, grr.

But we all know bears go huggy-huggy-hug,

Huggy-huggy-hug, huggy-huggy-hug.

We know bears go huggy-huggy-hug,

They don't go grr, grr, grr.

Flannelboard and ukulele song: 5 Green & Speckled Frogs

Miss Mary Liberry has an awesome instructional video available on her blog about how to play this song on ukulele, which was really helpful for me in learning the strumming pattern for this song. I made a flannelboard to go along with the song, to help give a visual element for my storytime participants. The song itself lends itself to pausing between verses to remove the frogs from the board.

Inspiration for my board is from HaonCreative on etsy. I used clipart from a Google image search for the frogs, and freehanded the rest.

Five Green & Speckled Frogs

Five green and speckled frogs,

Sat on a speckled log,