I just love it when two things I love collide!  We were outside today enjoying our country property (did you see it yet?  If not, let me show you around!) and gathering some stones.  Our new(ish) place, being on a dirt road, has made my stone collectors very, very happy.  I gave my collectors a mission to find some large, smooth, and round stones so we could make some story stones.

I love story stones (this is the first love which, if you bare with my drawn out story here, will soon collide – I promise).  After a morning full of collecting stones it was soon time for rest.  As I was singing to my babe before rest, I sang one of our favourites – Five Green and Speckled Frogs (this, in case you hadn’t guessed yet, is the second love … COLLISION!)

SO, during rest time, Madeline (my oldest) and I made Five Green and Speckled Frogs Story Stones.  They were super simple to make, and a wonderful prompt for story telling.

We simply found 5 large, round, smooth stones and painted little frogs on one side.

Then, using an idea I found and shared on my Facebook page a few weeks ago (are you following along with us?  http://www.facebook.com/HowWeeLearn) by Librarian vs Storytime, we added water to the back of the stones.  So when the song says: “one jumped into the pool …” we can flip over our stone, making it very simple to count how many frogs are left.

Here is the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs (or at least how we sing it)

Five green and speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log,

Eating some most delicious bugs – Yum Yum!

One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool,

Now there are 4 green speckled frogs!

And so on.

This was a fun activity for my oldest daughter and I to create, and a fun activity for the little ones to do.  My 4 year old Sam has been having fun singing and counting all on his own using these story stones.  He has been trying hard to sing it to Benjamin – but at 22 months, he would like to put all of the frogs into the water at once … or take them for a run.  Last night Benjamin sat in my lap and we watched Sam’s whole show successfully – he was so proud of himself!

And if you are looking for a few more Five Green and Speckled Frog ideas:

Librarian vs. Storytime has an adorable one using a paper roll

You Can Make This has a felt template for the Five Green and Speckled Frogs Song

Kim Adsit’s Resources for Kindergarten Teachers shares how to make Five Green and Speckled Frog Puppets from green shovels.

Thank you so much for reading along with us!