Bom bom bom, ay-ee-ai *

We have some new members of the family and we are all pretty excited about them. We've got tadpoles!!!

My friend moved house recently and became the proud owner of a very large pond. A pond that seems to contain what could be the biggest population explosion of the frog world in West London. There are millions in there! So I jumped at the offer to take some home with me to South East London - I knew Wiss would love them and they are brilliantly fun and educational too. Win win!

I brought home some weed from the pond too and made sure there was a rock sticking out of the water so the froglets could climb out when they're ready. And then googled how to look after them properly! It seems that tadpoles like to eat lettuce (that has been boiled for about 10 minutes to break it down) and they like clean water. Apart from that it seems you just sit and watch. (And make sure you take them to Grandad's pond just before they start hopping all over the house!) The time it takes for them to go from tadpole to froglet is roughly about 6-8 weeks.

They're only little but they are fascinating - in fact Wiss hasn't even asked to watch cartoons since we've had them. Brilliant. They are the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up and when he gets home from nursery, and I've even caught my husband staring at them!

We've got mainly tadpoles at the moment but two have got their back legs already and one has got his front legs too. The life cycle of the frog is pretty remarkable so I printed out a diagram to explain it better to Wiss. I mounted it on card and added a spinning pointer so he can keep track of their development. I've also found some websites with great printables and downloads on this topic that look like they could be fun to do with Wiss (for example Wildlife Fun 4 Kids or Boggles World)

I remember having tadpoles as a child and being so amazed at their transformation from teeny tiny wriggly fish-thing to little frogs (so cute!) I am really happy that I am able to share this with Wiss. And what does he think of them....? Very cool!

Is anyone else looking after a 'cloud' of tadpoles? (great collective noun) I'd love to hear how your little fellas are getting on too. And although it's quite late in the year, it's still not too late to get some: entertainment for all the family!

*And if you're wondering about the title of this post.... it's from The Frog Chorus. Sorry, I bet you'll have it stuck in your head all day now!!!