At OMO, we believe that every stain represents an important experience - mud stains are the stamp of adventure, grass stains are the sign of exploration and fruit stains are the aftermath of discovery. Encourage your kids to get messy with our fun activities for happy, healthy, confident kids. We'll be there to sort out the dirty clothes afterwards.
Froggy Friends
Make a friendly frog puppet from a paper plate and bottle caps.
What you’ll need:
What to do:
Show your child how to put a paper plate down on their piece of paper and trace around it, then cut out the circle of paper. Next, let them fold the paper plate in half and cut it in half along the fold line. They can use poster paints to paint the paper plate in shades of green and paint the paper mouth with pink or red paint. When the paint has dried, show them how to fold the paper circle in half and staple the paper plate halves to the paper around the edges (you could use glue if you want to avoid sharp staples here).
Help your child to cut two cups out of an egg carton and paint them white. When the paint has dried, they can use a marker pen to add eye details. Staple the ‘eyeballs’ to the top paper plate. Your child’s friendly frog puppet is ready for playtime. Show them how to slide their four fingers into the top pocket and their thumb into the bottom pocket and then open and close the puppet’s mouth.
While you are doing this activity, you can talk to your child about life cycles and use the frog as an example. Frogs begin in eggs, then they emerge as tadpoles and look a lot like fish until their legs grow and they become frogs. You can also mention butterflies and caterpillars as an example of a life cycle.
Alternative Materials:
Change it up:
Make it easy: Do the cutting and putting together for your child and let them have fun painting the frog’s green skin and pink mouth.
Make it a challenge: Let your child do all the cutting out and putting together of their frog. Use a tissue paper collage to create a more interesting green skin instead of just painting it green. Challenge your child to create a curling tongue out of paper for their frog.
Play with friends: Making each frog is an individual activity but groups of children can have fun making their frog puppets ‘talk’ to each other.
Indoor play: Lay down an old sheet or newspaper for your child to work on if you’re doing this activity indoors.
Developmental areas:
Fine motor skills
Listening skills
Following instructions
Values:
Love of nature; empathy; communication; creativity.