Montessori-Inspired Frog Math Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now 

I'm very excited today! I get to share some fun hands-on frog math activities for Leap Year ... and for spring or summer in any year! And I get to share my first exclusive subscriber freebie at Living Montessori Now! 

You'll find LOTS of free frog printables in my Free Frog Printables and Montessori-Inspired Frog Math Activities. Here, I'm sharing some Montessori-inspired frog activities using free printables for preschoolers through first graders. 

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities. 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools. 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. 

Five Green and Speckled Frogs Activity

Free Printable: Five Green and Speckled Frogs from Making Learning Fun 

This activity was very simple to prepare and incorporated music ... a favorite subject for both my 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, and me. I just printed out and laminated the page from Making Learning Fun. Then I cut out the green frogs and placed them on an antique dish (can be any small container) on a Multicraft tray (which comes in a set of 5 nesting trays that can be used for numerous activities). I like to use special dishes and other containers (like the antique dish)  from time to time to make the work seem extra special and to teach children to care for their materials.

 

I had Zoey use the activity first as a number matching activity. She matched up each of the green frogs to a dotted frog. Then, as we sang the song she moved each green frog to the "pool." Such a simple but fun activity! (We used a Montessori Services rug for the activity.) 

Frog and Flies Number Basket



Free Printable: Frog Numbers for Number Basket or Cards and Counters (my subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password) 

This is another activity that was super easy to prepare. You just need to print, laminate, and cut out the printables. I simply chose a number to feature (there are 0-10 in the number frog printable) and added the number to a basket along with the corresponding number of flies. I love the package of 100 flies I found on Amazon! They arrive quickly, look very realistic (causing lots of double takes around the house when one gets loose!), and can be used for so many different activities! 



While I would use the printable and flies to make a set of DIY cards and counters for an older child, for a 2 year old I recommend making a number basket with just one frog number and the corresponding number of flies for your child to count. 

Frogs and Flies Cards and Counters  

Free Printable: Frog Numbers for Number Basket or Cards and Counters (my subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password) 

This activity required a set of 1-10 frog cards and exactly 55 flies. I love making DIY themed cards and counters to introduce odd and even and add interest and variety to cards and counters. 



Frogs and Flies More, Less, and Altogether Activity



Free Printable: Frogs and Flies: Quantity Concepts More, Less, Altogether by Speech Sprouts at Teachers Pay Teachers 

Free Printable for separate numbers: Dinosaur Kindergarten Pack (numbers from dinosaur hundred chart) at Royal Baloo 

This activity can be used with playdough, although I used the same set of flies. I added a sugar tong from Montessori Services for fine-motor work. A toast tong or tweezers would work well, too. Even a young child could do this work to have a hands-on understanding of more and less along with a hands-on introduction to addition. 

Frog Skip Counting Floor Numbers 



Free Printable: Skip Counting Floor Numbers (skip counting by 2s – 12s available) from 3 Dinosaurs 

You can't get much easier preparation than this. I just printed out the frog numbers. You can laminate them or not depending on how much you plan to use them. I simply placed the frog numbers on a  large plastic tray from Montessori Services. You'll find some fun ideas for using them in the post at 3 Dinosaurs. 

Frog Addition with Regrouping

Free Printable: Froggy Addition with Regrouping by ThirdGradeSparkle at Teachers Pay Teachers 

This is an activity for advanced preschoolers or kindergarteners or for first graders. It's for children who've had experience with the Montessori golden bead materials, including addition with regrouping. This activity would be a fun extension to that. 

I used Alison's Montessori golden beads for this work. They're fabulous! You can read about them in my review at Living Montessori Now. 

More Free Frog Printables  

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free frog printables from around the blogosphere: Free Frog Printables and Montessori-Inspired Frog Math Activities. And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables. 

More Montessori-Inspired Frog Activities 

You’ll find many more Montessori-inspired frog activities at Living Montessori Now and on Pinterest: Montessori-Inspired Frog Activities for Leap Year or Anytime, Montessori Frog Life Cycle Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers, Kids’ Frog and Leap Year Activities Pinterest Board

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12. I'm also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!

Happy Leap Year! :)

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 40 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and toddler granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

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Frogs and LOTS of FREEBIES!

Hi! I'm Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together. I'm ready for spring  and ready for FROGS!  Today I'd like to share some favorite frog books and activities with you- plus some great TPT freebies that I've found!

Here are some of my favorite frog books:

This is my newest frog story acquisition, and I love it!

Here is a description from Amazon and a book trailer!

Fans of Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back will love meeting this willful young frog with a serious identity crisis. Frog wants to be anything but a slimy, wet frog. A cat, perhaps. Or a rabbit. An owl? But when a hungry wolf arrives—a wolf who HATES eating frogs—our hero decides that maybe being himself isn’t so bad after all. In this very silly story with a sly message, told in hilarious dialogue between a feisty young frog and his heard-it-all-before father, young readers will identify with little Frog’s desire to be something different, while laughing along at his stubborn yet endearing schemes to prove himself right.

And some pictures!

This book lends itself to so many writing activities: Why didn't Frog want to be a frog? Of all the animals Frog wanted to be, what one might you want to be and why? Would you want to be a frog? Why? and on and on...

We just finished writing our How To books and are beginning our Informational Writing. Dan Colquhoun (Rocking Dan Teaching Man) is teaching 4th grade this year. His class wrote a "How To" song about making a paper frog. I thought it would be so much fun for my kids to follow the directions and make their own! They loved it.

The first time through, we listened and danced. As the children made their frogs, I stopped the song as we completed each step. When we were done, we listened again (and danced with our new frog friends!)

This was so wonderful for my class because they got to see "How To" in action!

Many thanks to Dan and his class for the great song and activity!

SO much personality!

Of COURSE a favorite song we always have is Debbie Clement's Pollywog! (This is on my free Frog and Toad Prezi that you can get below!)

Here is another cute song for the life cycle of a frog by Harry Kindergarten. (It's on my Prezi, too.)

And you just HAVE to dance to this one... You HAVE to.  It is one of our all time favorite brain breaks!

I adore the Frog and Toad books, too. These books are just right for K-1st grade read alouds, because they transition from the primary picture books to more text, but yet have a simple enough story for the children to love- sprinkled with some humor that the children actually get. The children seem to love the relationship between Frog and Toad, too, which is fun because they want to see what the next adventure will be with these two!



I posted all about ideas to go with Frog and Toad are Friends HERE.  I shared  the ideas and activities that I use for each story in the book- LOTS of ideas.

I posted the ideas I use for Frog and Toad Together HERE. Again, I shared ideas and activities that I use for each story!



I updated my Frog and Toad Prezi to be sure it included all of the videos from these book. I update my Prezis all the time because new videos and links are available all the time. It's FREE at my TPT store if you would like it. It includes the videos to go with the book, games and activities, a short biography of Arnold Lobel, as well as lots of links to help teach the science of frogs and toads.

Just click on the picture below if you would like a copy!

I also found some really wonderful TPT freebies about frogs to share with you.  

It's always fun to have lots of choices of activities to pick and choose from.  Some years you may be in the mood for one thing, and then the next year you might decided to try something else.  That's what makes our jobs so much fun. These are some of my favorites. Here we go!

Look at this cute Lily Pad Cutting pre-writing activity from Oodles of Fun. This would make a great center even now for lots of my students, just to practice cutting!

This is a fun Frog Long and Short Vowel Sort by Differentiation Station Creations.

This Frog Resource Unit (Over 140 Pages!) by The Notebooking Nook is amazing!

Little Miss Kindergarten has a great Frog Freebie!

Amy Maendel shared this Frog Lifecycle Freebie.

Nicole Hernandez shared these sequencing cards at her store.  They're so bright and happy!

This Frog Life Cycles Booklet from Carrie Manchester is cute. 

Or this Life Cycle of a Frog Emergent Reader by Crystal McGinnis...

TeachEZY shared this Frog Folding Life Cycle Activity .  It's a cute, quick activity to help the children remember the stages of a frog's life cycle.

Or you can make some puppets with these Frog Life Cycle Puppet Sticks from Preschool Printable.

This Frog Nomenclature Book by Montessori Print Shop has cards to explain all of the parts of a frog.

Lora Webster shared this cute I Can Write About Frogs Book for the children to make after they learn about frogs.

My kids are going to LOVE this I Spy with My Frog's Eye CVC Freebie that Marsha McGuire shared at her TPT store.  I can't wait to use it.  They find the tiny hidden words with a magnifying glass.

These Frog in the Bog Letter Sound Sorting Cards by Teaching Preschoolers focus on  sounds F,L, and P. 

I like this Lily Pad Hop Fry Sight Word Game from Klever Kiddos.  There's a lot you could do with this. 

Amy Kearns shared this Dolch Sight Word Leap Frog Game at her TPT store.

This Big and Little Frogs Number Dice Game by NJF  would make a great independent math center!

This Frog Ordinal Number Activity by Amy Carver is a great assessment to see if your students know ordinal numbers.

While you're checking, you can use this Frog Count and Write Number Assessment from Kindergarten Craftiness.

Eye Popping Fun Resources has a fun Smallest to Largest activity that would make a great center.

Kindergarten Craftiness shared this Frog on a Log Missing Number Practice activity.

Have fun hopping into spring! And don't forget another great frog reminder that I always love...