Endangered Frogs and Lily Pads

What would you think if there were no frogs to kiss?

In stories, frogs are often portrayed as ugly and slimy. When frogs are not hopping off lily pads, or croaking"ribbit" in the pond, they are often said to turn into a beautiful prince or princess if you dare to kiss them. And it is a big IF . . . usually the last desperate resort is to close the eyes and kiss the slimy creature. Frogs simply do not have the best reputation. This makes it a bit of a challenge if you what people to care about frogs enough to lift a finger to save them.

Today, frogs are disappearing at an alarming rate.

So. . .

On the sixth Day of June, we saved Six Jumping Frogs

Frogs face a range of threats such as habitat loss, water pollution, climate change, disease and invasive species. Frogs need clean and reliable sources of water. So if you have a garden, you can create a pond with a sloped ramp so that they frogs can easily climb in and out of the pond. Remember that if you put fish in the pond, they will eat the tadpoles and the frogs.

Why not write an exciting story where frogs and lily pads play the main roles? Stories are a great way to spread the message that you care about something

In Tuesday

David Wiesner, creates a world where frogs soar through the neighbourhoods on levitating lily pads. This wonderful book received the 1992 Caldecott Medal for illustrations. And the story is told almost entirely with pictures.

This book is about the impossible. It is a fantasy book that starts in a swamp around eight on a Tuesday night. To their surprise a turtle and some fish see frogs flying on lily pads. The frogs fly into a town where some of them watch TV and one of the frogs uses its tongue to change the channel. When the sun rises, the fly lily pads cease to fly and the frogs fall back to the earth.

The frogs are the main characters in this book where magic and unrealistic things happen all the time.

Frogs to not fly on lily pads but many frogs spend their lives in or near a body of water. Frogs do not spend all the time swimming or basking in the sun or enjoying the shade. Often you find frogs resting on a lily pad for hours. To catch an unsuspecting insect frog has to sit still for hours. As long as the frog is not too hey ad lily will work just fine.

If the frog is heavy, the leaf will sink beneath him and this help the frog to keep the skin moist in the water.

Water lilies have edges that are turned upwards and this help the water lilies to stay afloat even if a frog puts its weight on them.

It is often tricky to view the bottom of the pond because the water is often dark with algae. It is easy to belive that lily pads are floating leaves but we only see part of the plant. There are long stems that are connects the leaves to the plant that grows on the bottom of the pond. The steams help to make the pads strong enough so that a frog can sit on the leaves.

Lilypad Project Vincent Callebaut

Perhaps the frogs in the story live in a lilypad city.

Mind map

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