Fascinating Frogs At MPC

The children at Mitchelton Pre-Schooling centre were lucky to have a visitor named Jan who brought in some tadpoles from her garden pond for the children to observe.

The tadpoles stayed at the Kindy for the children to look after and observe until they turn into froglets after which Jan will take them back to her pond.

Over the past few weeks, the children have had an upclose experience observing tadpoles metamorphosis into froglets. At first the tadpoles had only a tail, then two legs grew at the back followed by two legs at the front. Once they start breathing air the tadpoles’ tails start getting shorter and they began to swim to the surface to breathe. Peter Combes song called “Tadpole Blues” helped the children to role play the frog life cycle.

The Frog display, on loan from the ‘Queensland Museum’ sparked further investigation and thinking about frogs. Where do they live? What do they eat? “Not all frogs are green!”

Mitchelton a Pre-Schooling centre have two ponds and three frog hotels to entice frogs into their environment. Last year the MPC community were excited to hear the call from the striped mash frog and noticed a bubble nest in one of the ponds. Unfortunately, the eggs didn’t hatch. A small green tree frog amongst the greenery in their gardens. The children will continue to do what they can to make the Kindy a safe place for frogs. What can you do at home to help? Make frog hotels, use solar lights to

Saturday increase bug activity. Reduce pesticides and keep cats and dogs inside for the night. For more information about MPC, visit www.mpc.net. au or attend their Open Day on Saturday 10th June from 9.30am to 11.30am.