Way, way back in the beginning of summer, we explored our favorite pond to see if we could find tadpoles.  We found something even better --- egg sacs that contained hundreds upon hundreds of tiny frog eggs!  The most interesting thing about the discovery is that each time we stepped closer for a better look, though we never saw her, the mother frog croaked at us.  I never realized before then that mother frogs had protective instincts. 



A month later, we stopped back to check the progress of the eggs and voila, there were hundreds of tiny baby tadpoles swimming around.




Yesterday, we stopped back one last time to see what we could find and they were gone!  Much to our disappointment, they must have fully developed into frogs and moved on. 

Exploring a pond and learning about frog development is definitely an adventure to add to your "bucket list" of nature activities to do next summer!  I included the activity as part of our outdoor challenge so I could teach my kids about how animals grow and develop, from eggs, to babies, to adults.   If you can locate a pond near your home, spend some time walking around and exploring it this fall with your child.  Then, next summer revisit it to see if you can find tadpoles or even egg sacs.  Go back as often as possible and note what you see.  Encourage your child to take photos or draw pictures in a journal so he can note the change that occurs over time.  It's amazing how much learning about frog development assists in learning about how animals, even humans, grow.