This program is set up for "My First Book Club" geared to children up to 2nd grade. After we read the book, Frog and Toad are Best Friends: by Arnold Lobel, children created a craft.
Craft 1: Frog and Toad Puppets
Materials
Brown paper lunch sacks
Brown and green construction paper
Scissors and glue
Big wiggly eyes
Construction paper scraps
Procedure
Give the children paper bags, green and brown construction paper, wiggly eyes and let them create their own Frog and Toad puppets. Provide other scraps of paper in different colors so that they can add clothing or other items from the stories. Some children might want to make Toad’s bathing suit from “A Swim” or add buttons to Toad’s jacket. Leave several copies of the books out so that the children can look at them for ideas.
Resources
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Together. Harper Collins, 1972
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad All Year. Harper Collins, 1976
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Are Friends. Harper Collins, 1979
Lobel, Arnold. Days With Frog and Toad. Harper Collins, 1984
Credit: Bright Hub Education. 2011, July 11. Fun With Frog and Toad: Three Crafts for First Grade Students. https://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-1-2/122130-three-frog-and-toad-crafts-for-first-graders/#:~:text=%20Fun%20With%20Frog%20and%20Toad%3A%20Three%20Crafts,Because%20of%20their%20simple%20structure%2C%20the...%20More%20
Craft 2: Paper Bag Frog Puppet (My favorite)
Materials:
a paper lunch bag
a printer and paper
green paint or green construction paper
scissors,
glue and/or tape
something to color with
Prep:
Paint paper bags green
Print and cut out pieces from template.
Instructions:
Get Familiar with Your Paper Bag:
We're going to hop on through this slowly, so bear with me.
Look at your paper bag.It should be closed and flat like a piece of paper. Just like when they are brand new. On one side, it's all smooth. This will be the BACK of your frog.
On the other side there's a flippy tab (which is typically the bottom of the bag when you're carrying your lunch around...)This flippy tab will be the frog's HEAD.
Lift the flippy tab up a bit. Underneath of the FLAP will be the frog's mouth. When the child put's her hand in the bag, she'll be able to make the puppet talk.
Look at the rest of the front of the bag. (The 3/4 or so of the bag below the part with the flippy tab) This will be the BODY.
Look at the sides of the bag. There should be a SIDE FLAP of paper.We'll be slipping the arms into this flap.
Putting the Frog Puppet Together:
Put one of the green circles in front of you. Glue the medium sized (white circle) onto it. Glue the small (black) circle onto that. Repeat with the other set of circles. Now you have two eyes!
Take the red long rectangle and wrap it around a pencil to give it a curl. This will be the tongue.
Glue the eyes onto the top of the HEAD. You can see from the photo above that the eyes stick up over the top of the head.
Draw two tiny black lines (nostrils) onto the head.
Lift the FLAP and glue the tongue underneath.
Glue the arms into the SIDE FLAP. When you do this, glue them onto the top of the flap not the bottom. That way when you're using the puppet, it's arms will reach forward in a hugging motion instead of bending way backwards.
Optional: You can personalize your basic frog puppet in a lot of ways. Here are just a few ideas for them:
Put a construction paper or gift wrap bowtie on the frog.
Draw marker or paint speckles/warts/dots on your frog's body.
Take a small black pom pom. Attach some wax paper wings and small googly eyes to make a fly. Glue it to the frog's tongue.
Glue something into the frog's hand.
Glue some construction paper froggy feet to the bottom of the bag.
Cut feet in one of the shapes to the right out of green construction paper. Bend the tabs at the top of the feet and glue or tape the tabs onto the INSIDE of the paper bag. That will give the feet a 3D floppy feel.
Credit: DLTK Kids. (n.d). Paper Bag Frog Puppet. Retrieved from https://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mfrogbag.htm
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