A great one to do with lots of actions: leaping and eating bugs! Use fingers to represent the frogs and see how the number changes … It doesn’t matter if you don’t know a tune to go with it, just say the rhyme or make a tune up together!

Five little speckled frogs

Sat on a speckled log

Eating the most delicious bugs

One jumped into the pool

Where it was nice and cool

Then there were four green speckled frogs.

The verse is then repeated with one fewer frogs each time!

The final verse ends “Then there were no more speckled frogs

Activity Ideas:

You could also a go at making some frog characters to sit on a cardboard tube log, and act out the rhyme.  You could cut out some frog images from the internet or draw some of your own, use a lolly stick and stick your frog characters to it, paint or decorate your log – or find a real stick or log in the park or the garden!

This activity will help children learn to recite the numbers 1-5, using their finger to represent the frogs and also and also to learn a little about living creatures: maybe you could find some frogs or toads in the garden or park to look at…but take care if handling them as too much handling can harm the animals’ skin.

When learning to count it is important for the children to touch each object as they count. This helps them to learn that 1 represents an object or “thing”.  This is an important foundation stone for all future math’s learning later at school