Preschool Pond Animals Theme

Welcome to my Pond Animals Theme Planning Page.  Below you can find a variety of activities focused on Lily Pads, Frogs, Ducks, Turtles and the many other animals that make a pond their home.
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Planning your Pond Preschool Theme 

Club Members can download our pond activities and pond theme planning guide for free!
​Not a member? Learn More Here

Download our Free Pond Animals Preschool Sample Lesson Plan
Add these items to your Art Space this week: Green Play Dough, Green Construction paper, Feathers and Wiggle Eyes.  

*Paper Plate Lily Pad

Create a mini pond with lily pads using the potato stamping technique.  See the Lily Pad Potato Stamping tutorial for details. 
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Paper Plate Turtle Shell

Provide a paper plate and tissue paper squares for your preschooler to create a paper plate turtle shell. Introduce the term scutes, and other facts, as they make their critter.
Your preschooler may wish to add a head and legs as well! Or the turtle might have it's legs and head tucked into his shell.

Frog & Turtle Rocks

Paint rocks to look like frogs and turtles. Create a pretend pond outside and use the rock animals for pretend play. Check out our tutorial for tips and tricks on Making Your Own Pet Rock Frog
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Pond Animal Tracks

Provide plastic pond animal figures and paint in a shallow dish. Invite your preschooler to dip the animals in the paint, then create stamp on paper to create animal tracks. 

Pond Dip

This tasty opportunity encourages preschoolers to practice measurement and following directions!
As an added bonus it's an excellent way for preschoolers to tickle their taste buds with some healthy choices.
Directions for the Pond Dip
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Make a Pet Turtle

Pair cardstock with a paper bowl to create a little pet turtle.

​More Pond Animal Art and Creativity  Preschool Ideas

Paper Plate Lily Pads from Tippy Toe Crafts
Paper Plate Frogs from Preschool Playbook
Hand Print Duck from Crafty Morning
Play Dough Pond from Mom Inspired Life
Dragonfly Craft from iheartcraftythings

*Create a Life-Sized Pond

Turn your Dramatic Play Area into a Life sized Pond. Add Blue Fabric Water, Brown Fabric Dirt, and Green Fabric Grass. Add a variety of items: Fishing Poles, Picnic Basket, Binoculars, etc.
This adorable pond dramatic play space was created by community member Cheryl V.
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Photo Credit: Cheryl V.

Act Out Your Favorite Pond Rhyme or Story

Read some pond related stories or rhymes with the children. Set the books out in the Dramatic Play Area along with dress up clothes and props that could be used to act out the stories. Invite children to act out scenes from the different stories or rhymes.

*Build a Pond

Add materials to encourage children to construct their own Ponds.
Items to add: blue fabric or silk scarves for water, blue felt or fabric for dirt/mud, Pond Animals (Frogs, Ducks, Fish), Twigs, gems, green cut felt for lily pads or green lids from empty containers. 

Build a Bridge

Provide your students with building materials to build their own bridge over a pretend pond. You can use a blue sheet or blanket as the pond.
Take an invitation to build outside!
Use sidewalk chalk to make a pond. Add blocks to construct a bridge, small houses, lily pads, or to use as logs in the water. 
Be sure to bring pond animals and little insects. 
The dragonfly, fly, and other little creatures in this Insect set from Learning Resources is perfect for this theme. 

Feed the Frog Game

Preschoolers love games where they get to feed an animal. Combine that with their love of insects and frogs to make this game a hit. 
Fun and engaging way to support letter recognition. 
PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack
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Letter Hide and Seek at the Pond

Add this letter seeking game to your literacy center with your favorite manipulatives to promote letter recognition and visual discrimination skills. 
​PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack
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*Pond Animal 3-Part Cards

Pond animal 3-part cards are a great way to memorize and learn to read the names of a variety of pond animals. Try this one for free! ​
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Lily Pad Alphabet Jump

Draw lily pads with letters on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk (or use paper plates if inside). 

Play music and encourage children to hop from pad to pad. When the music stops, children identify the letter they landed on. If able, encourage your preschooler to make the letter phoneme or say a word that starts with that letter. 

Fish For Letters

Fill a sensory bin with water beads and plastic letters. Give children nets or scoops and have them fish the letters our of the "pond." Once they have caught a letter, have them identify the letter before throwing it back into the sensory bin. You could also give the children a specific letter to try to catch. This activity is great for letter identification!

​More Pond Animal Language & Literacy Preschool Ideas

Pond Sight Words from Counting Coconuts

Five Little Speckled Frogs Puppet Sticks

Create puppet sticks of 5 frogs and sing “5 Little Speckled Frogs” together.  Listen to the song on YouTube here! 
Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner
Pond Walk by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Turtle Splash Countdown at the Pond by Cathryn Falwell
The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner
In the Small Small Pond by Denise Fleming
Life in the Pond by Craig Hammersmith
And the Bullfrogs Sing by David L. Harrison
From Tadpole to Frog by Shannon Zemlicka
The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Pond Animal Count & Clip

Count and Clip cards are a fun way to support math skills and fine motor development. 
Count how many on top, then identify the correct numeral, and clip with a clothespin. 
This activity is included in the PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack.
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Frogs Counting Mat

Practice numeral recognition and counting aloud with this Frog Counting Mat from PKPF.
This activity is fun for independent exploration or to play with a friend. ​PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack​
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Frog and Lily Pad Shape Matching

Practice shape recognition and matching with this cute lily pad and frog activity. ​PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack​
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Frog Jump Measurement

Preschoolers love to learn about measurement. 
Use fine motor skills to make the frog jump, next practice measuring skills by measuring the distance, then practice writing numerals and gathering data by recording the results. 
You can find this activity included in the Frog Science Activities pack by Pre-K Printable Fun

*Lily Pad Counting Cards

Use the lily pad counting cards from the Pond Animals Activity Pack activity pack along with pom poms or other favorite counters to practice numeral recognition and counting skills. 
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Learn and Practice Addition

Advanced preschoolers and kindergartners are working on learning to add groups of objects together. 
Support this development with this hands-on Beginning Operations activity with a fun frog theme!
This set is included in the Beginning Operations: I Can Add activity pack from Pre-K Printable Fun
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Rubber Duck Number Identification

Write numbers 1-10 on the bottom of rubber ducks. Add the ducks to a bucket of water or water bead sensory bin. Have children pick up a duck identify the number and count to that number then put the duck back in the "pond."

​More Pond Animal Math Preschool Ideas

​Duck Pond Addition Activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning
Feed the Frog activity from My Little Princess World
 Add: Frogs & Turtles, Ducks,  Foam Lily Pads, Stones,  and
Twigs to your Sensory Bin this week.

Frog Egg Sensory Bin

Your preschoolers are going to love this sensory experience. See the Frog Egg Sensory Bin Tutorial for details. 
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Differences Between Frogs and Toads

Explore the differences in frogs and toads with the activities included in the Frog Science Activities pack
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Label Parts of a Duck

This labeling activity supports children as they learn proper names and parts of a duck . This activity is included in our Pond Animals Activity Pack​
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*Life Cycle of a Frog

Use this activity after a discussion about the life cycle of a frog. Or pair with a fun book like From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer
​Get the Frog Life Cycle figures here and the activity is included in the ​PKPF Pond Animals Activity Pack​​
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                                     Pond Sink or Float

Set up an invitation to experiment! 
Fill your sensory bin with water and supply materials for children to add to their mini pond. Material suggestions: rocks, pebbles, grass stems, cattails, toy frogs & turtles, and fake water lillies. 
Encourage your preschooler to predict if each item will sink or float before they add it. After each, talk about why they think it floated/sank. 
As they continue with the activity, encourage them to recall prior information when making their hypotheses. "The rock didn't float. Do you think the grass stem will float? What are the differences between the rock and the grass stem?"
If you're in the market for a new water table this pond theme water table from little tikes is adorable. 

Pond Sensory Bin Ideas

Pond life Sensory Bin Submitted by
Erica's Educare Learning Center
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Photo Credit: Erica's Educare Learning Center

Pond Life Sensory Bin

Reader Cheryl V shared this pond sensory bin. She added frogs and numbers from the Pond Animals Activity Pack for her preschoolers to find. 
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Photo Credit: Cheryl V.

​More Pond Animal Science & Discovery  Preschool Ideas

Inspecting Pond Water from Stir the Wonder
Explore the Frog Life cycle from Live and Play

Assemble a Pond Puzzle

Practice numeral recognition while working on fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination with this pond themed number puzzle from our Pond Animals Activity Pack 
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*Color Lily Pad Jump

Use the colored lily pads included in our Pond Animals Activity Pack
 to create a frog jumping game. 
Encourage your little frogs to jump from pad to pad, when they stop they can announce what color they landed on. 
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Practice Fine Motor & Scissor Skills

Practice cut and paste skills with this Pond color, cut, and paste activity. Included in the PKPF I Can Color Cut and Paste a Scene activity pack. 
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Duck Duck Goose

An oldie but a goodie! Take your preschooler outside to play a friendly game of Duck Duck Goose!

Move Like a....

Call out a pond animal and challenge your preschoolers to move around like that animal! There are so many interesting creatures at the pond, moving like them will get bodies moving in a variety of ways!

Feed the Frog

Create a frog you can feed by cutting a slit in a tennis ball and adding googly eyes. Have children Use tweezers to “feed” flies (black mini pom poms) to the frog. Students develop fine motor and coordination skills as they pinch the tennis ball to open the frog's mouth with one hand and use the tweezers to pick up the pom poms and put them in the mouth.

Pom Pom Color Sorting

Grab some cardboard tubes and green paper to set up this activity, pair with tweezers/tongs for preschoolers to pick up and sort giving fingers a big workout.

​More Pond Animal Physical Development Preschool Ideas

Frog Jump Gross Motor Activity from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Take a Trip!

Visit a pond to make observations. 
Bring a clipboard with blank paper for children to draw the pond or any creatures they see at the pond.
This is a great time to introduce and practice thoughtful, quiet observation. 
Close your eyes, what sounds are heard?
What animals can be seen above water? Are their insects hovering nearby? Can animals be seen below the surface? 
​When observing a pond, patience is key! 

Talk about Water Safety

While studying Pond Animals talk about water safety with your preschoolers. Make sure they know that if they ever come across a body of water, no matter how shallow, they should be with an adult. 
Talk about life vests and precautions people can take to be safe around water. Consider having a life vest available for children to investigate and try on. 

*Calm Down Binder-Lily Pad

 Help children practice calm down strategies by using this lily pad jumping page from my Calm Down Binder. Have the child use one finger to jump from one lilt pad to the next mindfully breathing in between each jump.
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Be the Pond: Mindfulness Video

Practice mindfulness with this zen den video.  Listen to the animals around the pond as you begin to relax.  Our mind is like a pond full of fish.  Watch your feelings (fish) swim by you as you focus on being the pond, observe the fish, and not get swept up by them. Watch on YouTube here!

I had a little Turtle Rhyme

Try out this fun rhyme with your preschoolers!
Our I Had a Little Turtle Song Props and Digital Song Board set (members only)is perfect for circle time!

Pre-K Printables Club Members, visit the shop listing to download for free! Not a member? learn more
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Members get this in our shop for free!

Learn & Sing a Silly Song

Mmm Ahh Went the Little Green Frog is super cute and perfect for this theme!
Learn this song and sing with your preschoolers during circle time. 
As a follow up, create little paper frog and fish puppets to use the next day during circle.

Finger plays, Songs, and Rhymes

There are lots of fun finger-plays and songs to go with the Pond Animals Theme. Here are a few favorites
  • Five Green and Speckled Frogs
  • Five Little Fishies
  • Row Row Your Boat
  • Five Little Ducks
Keep cards with these favorite songs near your circle area for children to choose from each day. 
This set of Fingerplays, Songs, and Rhymes from Pre-K Printable Fun includes little cards for this purpose along with lyrics to 28 favorite Fingerplays, Songs and Rhymes for preschoolers including these pond ones. 

​More Pond Animal Educator Resources

Pond Songs for Preschoolers from Let's Play Music

Share about a Pond Visit

Inform families that you will be doing a study of Pond Animals. Encourage them to visit a pond with their child if they are able and take lots of photos!
Create a digital album or print the pictures to display in the classroom.  Encourage children to share about their experience. 

Frog Science Activities

$3.00
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Pond Animals Activity Pack

$7.00
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Color Cut And Paste a Scene

$3.00
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Spring Fine Motor Sand Sweeping Mats

$3.00
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Spring Calendar Display

$3.00
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Spring Play Dough Mats

$3.00
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Five Little Ducks Song Props and Digital Song Board (members only)

$0.00
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Five Little Speckled Frogs Circle Time Prop Set (Members Only)

$0.00
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(Members Only) Row Row Row Your Boat Song Props and Digital Song Board

$0.00
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Learning Centers

Preschool Learning Centers are commonly referred to as Preschool Centers, or Learning Spaces. These are activity areas dedicated to a specific type of of play and exploring a variety of topics and activities. Download our Free set of Center Signs!