Choose a template and draw in the stages of a frog's life cycle, or use the photographs in our photo-bank. If you choose the last template, label or describe what's happening.

• What is the difference between frogspawn, tadpoles, and froglets?
• What type of animal is a frog?
• Why do you think frogs release their eggs into shallow, still ponds and not deep, flowing water?

Use this activity to support learning about the frog life cycle. Select the template to best meet or challenge the abilities of your children. Ask children to recall each of the stages of the frog life cycle, find or draw an appropriate image, and write a label or description for each stage.

Facts for the teacher:

An adult frog produces hundreds of jelly-covered eggs. This is called frogspawn. Frogs release their eggs in shallow water, like ponds. The black dots in the eggs start to develop and grow tiny tails. They spend 1-3 weeks eating the yolk in their eggs and then they hatch from their eggs as tiny tadpoles.

Tadpoles have to live in water. They have gills to breathe underwater, a mouth and a tail. As tadpoles get larger, they eat tiny chunks of plants using their horny teeth. Tadpoles gradually change into a frog. The back legs grow first and then the front legs. The tail shrinks and the tadpole starts to change shape and eat insects instead of plants. Skin grows over its gills and its lungs develop so it can live out water. At this stage, it is called a froglet or young frog.

Once the tail completely disappears, the froglet becomes an adult frog. The special name for all these changes is metamorphosis. Frogs often return to the pond where they were spawned.