Toad in the Tub

We are still working on our Dinosaur/Reptile unit, within which I have included amphibians. It was pure luck that while rolling up the hose late one evening Darren spotted movement in the grass that turned out to be a little toad. He put it in a box and came in to tell me of his find. I loved the idea of letting the kids play with the toad, but hated the idea of keeping him in a box for too much time. The kids were in the bath, so I told Darren that rather than keep the toad overnight he should just take the toad upstairs and let the kids see him.

Of course, the kids wanted to touch and then hold the toad, so we shut the bathroom door and let them have their fun. Kyrie was fearless and gentle and Degen was excited, but nervous, too. He watched the little toad intently and leaned close to Sissy to touch its bumpy skin. And then before we knew it, PLOP, the toad was swimming in the lukewarm tub. We all laughed and watched him kick his legs all about the tub. Whenever he got too close, Degen would squeal with a mixture of fear & delight. We put a foam mat in the water so he could rest a bit between swims around the tub.

We talked all about the toad while we watched him swim or held him gently. We felt his bumpy skin and saw his long flippered toes push through the water. We watched him jump from Kyrie's hands to the sill of the tub and then prepared to say goodbye. Of course, after we explained that we couldn't keep a wild animal in the house, Kyrie exclaimed that she really wanted to have a pet toad that we could keep. This was a fun opportunity for the kids to do some real hands-on learning and really enhanced our lessons for this unit!