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Title: Frogs on a Lily Pad
This is an original LEP that was inspired by an idea on the Zero to Three Website.

https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/play-activities-for-24-to-36-months/

1. Age: Older Toddlers (24 – 36-month-olds)

2. Goal: Encourage imagination and build coordination and physical skills

3. Objectives:

#1: The children will listen and use critical thinking to respond to a story.

#2: The children will use their imagination to pretend to be frogs.

#3: The children will build physical skills and coordination by hopping.

4. Materials:

• Book: Kaplan, R, (1995) Jump, Frog, Jump! Green Willow Books

• Green felt or green cloth cut into the shape of lily pads

• Frog puppet

• iPad or Smart Board

5. Related Children’s Book:

Kaplan, R, (1995) Jump, Frog, Jump! Green Willow Books

6. Vocabulary:

1. net
2. lily pad
3. jump

CHS199, 199V, 298, 298V
Learning Experience Plan – Sample

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

4. pond
5. under

7. Introduction/Prompt:

I will use a frog puppet to capture their attention when I invite them to come to the story area. I will
ask the children if they have ever seen a real frog in their yard or in a pond. I will then create a fun
dialog where the frog puppet asks the children if they have ever seen a frog. I will have the frog tell the
children how he likes to play in the pond and jump from lily pad to lily pad. Then I will tell the children
that I am going to read them a story about a frog who was playing in pond when many things
happened that made him need to jump and jump and jump to get away!
This is the first time that I am going to read this book to the children, so I will then hold the book up for
the children to see and ask them what they think the story will be about by looking at the cover. I will
read the title and author of the book and the illustrator and remind the children that the front of the
book is the cover, the back is the back, and the side is the book’s spine. I will ask them to listen while I
read the story. I will read it all the way through with many expressions but without too many pauses so
children can appreciate the rhythm and get a sense of the cumulative nature of the story.

8. Lesson:

Book Reading: After I read the book, I will ask the children if they can name the animals that the frog
met in the pond (fly, fish, snake, and turtle). I will ask questions such as Who got cut caught in the net?
How did the frog get away without being caught? Did you like the story and why or why not? Can you
think of another way the frog could have escaped?

Activity: I will tell the children that they will have a chance to pretend that they are frogs playing in a
pond. I will show them the space on the carpet that will be the pretend pond and then ask the children
to help me place “scatter” the green lily pads in the pond. Since there will be more children than lily
pads, I will call stop a few times and give different children a chance to move the lily pads so everyone
who wants a turn doing that will have a turn.

I will then tell the children to pretend that they are frogs and that when I say “Jump, frog, jump! They
should hop from lily pad to lily pad. I will suggest that they can croak like frogs and say “ribbit”
together!

10: Individualizing/Modifying:

To modify the lesson for a child who has a slight visual impairment, I will:
• Make sure the child is sitting close to me while I read the story and have them look at the

pictures a bit longer. I will tell the children where the book will be when the lesson is over so
they can spend more time with it.

• Give specific directions so the child understands exactly where the lily pads are located.
• I will also pair them with a friend who can provide help if needed in finding the lily pads.
9. School-to-Home Connection:

I will send home a note explaining to the parents that we read the story
Jump, Frog, Jump!” by Robert Kaplan and include the new vocabulary words we discussed. I will let
the parents know that we had the opportunity for children to pretend to be frogs jumping together

© 2021 Post University, Waterbury, CT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

in a pond and suggest that they ask their child to show them how they can jump like a from when
the parent calls out “Jump, frog, jump!”.
10. SAFETY ALERT:

Check the carpet to make sure that it is clean and that there are no sharp items or items that could
cause choking.

11. Clean-Up

Have the children gather the lily pads and put them in the designated place.

12. Wrap-Up

Using my iPad or White Board I will show the YouTube video of a reading of Jump, Frog, Jump!

I will play it several times allowing the children to learn the words and repeat the reframe “Jump, frog,
jump!” closing my lesson on a fun upbeat note. For any child in the class who may speak a different
language such as Spanish, I will try to find the same video in that child’s native tongue.