Ponds & Frogs

Who remembers pond dipping? Grabbing a net and bucket, pulling on your wellies and seeing what strange creatures were lurking beneath the water. Pond skaters and water boatman, frogspawn and snails! It is such a perfect activity for children to get hands-on with nature – hunting, identifying, drawing and recording their findings. It can take you down many different paths – learning about the life cycle of frogs, the world of dragonflies, the secret creatures that live beneath the water, or even finding out about the larger animals that rely on the pond.

I had in mind to find lots of lovely story books with a pond theme to share with you….but it turned out to be a bit of a mammoth task! There are some, but they tend to be American nature stories and I do want to keep to my promise and find you the best in UK stories. So for ponds I have chosen a couple of fab stories and a few of the best factual books for young explorers! I decided to expand my horizons a bit and include some of my favourite froggy stories and fact books as well! If you are exploring ponds then you must surely include frogs in your adventures! Who doesn’t think of frogspawn when they think of ponds?!

Just a small note – The Pond is a beautiful book that tells the story of a boy builidng a pond after the loss of his father. A touching book about transformation and grief – it may not be what you are needing if you are just wanting a light nature study, but is still a gorgeous read.