Frog Life Cycle Fold Out Activity
Use this frog life cycle fold out activity to teach kids more about frogs and the stages they go through as they become adults.
When we went fishing with the kids, we saw some little tadpoles swimming around the pond. The kids were intrigued by the little swimmers so we took this as an opportunity to learn more about tadpoles and how they grow to become frogs.
To help make the learning process fun, we used this frog life cycle foldout, and the kids colored some frog coloring pages. After we finished the life cycle of a frog activity, we took our frog life cycle fold outs back to the pond so the kids could see if there were any frogs yet.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t so we’ll have to check back in with the little tadpoles soon.
Printable Frog Life Cycle Fold Out

The life cycle of a frog is quite interesting. Frogs go from eggs to tadpoles to froglets (young frogs) to adult frogs.
Before you print out the frog life cycle fold out activity, here is a breakdown of the stages. A summary of this information is on the frog life cycle fold out, we’re just going into more detail here.
Stage 1: Eggs

First, the frog lays the eggs in the water. They’re usually in a cluster (also called a frogspawn) near the bank and from a distance, it may look like a blob of jelly.
If you look a little closer at the cluster you will see little black dots which are the eggs. The jelly around the eggs helps protect them from predators, provides them with nutrition, and keeps them moist so they can survive.
At the end of the first stage, shortly before the eggs hatch, the eggs grow little tails. This signals that the second stage of the life cycle is about to begin.
Stage 2: Tadpoles
Once the eggs hatch, they are called tadpoles. Tadpoles are like tiny fish with long tails and no legs. They stick close to grass and plants in the water since they aren’t able to survive on land yet. This is why you’ll see tadpoles around the banks of rivers and ponds.
During the transformation of tadpoles to froglets, these little guys go through a lot of changes.
As the tadpoles grow, they start developing their hind legs first. A long tail will also appear. The tail will help store nutrients for their growing bodies and help feed them until they can hunt for their own food. Their lungs are starting to develop which will help them to breathe outside of the water. (Sometimes this is referred to as a completely separate stage; tadpoles with legs).

Stage 3: Froglets
The final stage of going from a tadpole to a froglet is very quick. The front and back legs fully form and their lungs are fully developed. The tail shrinks until it disappears. They start to look like small frogs at this point.
As froglets, they can jump in and out of water and survive on land so that they can find food. Frogs have a sticky tongue which is used to catch the insects and bugs they eat.
Stage 4: Adult Frogs
Now that they are fully grown and can survive on their own, they are considered adult frogs. They can survive outside of the water as long as they stay cool and don’t dry out. The adult frogs will go look for a mate and lay their own eggs to begin the cycle again.

Life Cycle of a Frog Fold Out for Kids
To help kids learn more about the life cycle of frogs, you can download the free frog life cycle fold out activity.
Kids can cut and glue the activity together to create a fun fold out that tells about each stage of the cycle as they go from eggs to adults.

More Life Cycle Activities:
Sources and More Learning
In addition to this frog life cycle fold out, these are some of our favorite resources for learning more about the life cycle of a frog.