The wood frog is a common amphibian found throughout North America. They migrate hundreds of feet from the forest where they spend their entire lives to the vernal pools where they go for a few weeks each year to mate. Wood frogs are called obligate species – this means that they are obligated to return and mate at the same vernal pool where they hatched from an egg.
Vernal pools do not have streams bringing water to the area. This is good for the frogs because fish can’t live in vernal pools and eat the frogs’ eggs. The bad part is that the wood frog needs to develop into an adult before the vernal pool, basically a basin of water, dries up.
Wood Frog Migration Game
For the game, the teacher will need one sheet of green construction paper for every two or three students and one sheet of blue construction paper for every two or three students. Place green and blue sheets of paper at opposite ends of the play space as markers. As the teacher describes the season and the behavior of the animals, the students act out the movements of the frogs.
Have all the children stand with one foot on a green sheet of paper. Students will share habitat areas. Ask the students to imagine that it is winter and they are underground, beneath the leaves, so they can stay protected from the cold. Have the children kneel on the floor, huddled in a ball. One day in the spring it rains through the day into the night. The frogs stir and start moving around. They are ready to lay and fertilize frog eggs, but they can’t do that in the forest.
The boys in the group hop across to the pond (blue) square. At the pond, the males “quack” to attract the female frogs (a wetland of wood frogs sound like ducks quacking). The girls follow. The teacher can hold a few children at the blue square to become tadpoles. Send the adult frogs back to the forest where there is plenty of food. Describe the life cycle of the frog, with that group of students acting out the process. In late summer, the new frogs travel to the forest. Go through the cycle a couple of times.
Habitat Challenges
While playing, introduce different challenges – both environmental and human-created – that wood frogs can meet. Students who “die” in the game can step to the sideline for a round before returning.
- When students remain in the vernal pool as eggs, remove the blue sheet of paper they are standing on and explain that the water level went down and the eggs dried out.
- When a student is pretending to be a tadpole, remove the blue sheet of paper where the student is standing and explain that a drought caused the water to evaporate before the tadpole could develop to adulthood.
- Tell the students that a road has been built between the forest and the vernal pool. Select one child for every ten students to represent a driver. Point out that cars don’t zigzag while driving, but go in a straight line. The driver(s) go across the playing field, between the forest and the vernal pool. Tagged players become additional drivers.
- Eliminate either forest habitat or vernal pool habitat so more frogs have to crowd onto the sheets of paper. Ask if the students feel stressed and how they think the frogs would be affected.
Students can learn about wood frogs and their migration habits through a game that offers optional rounds that simulate the challenges these animals face.
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