Frog-Themed Picture Books & Songs for Kids

February has an extra day this year, and I’m determined to make it a memorable one. Yesterday, I published a bunch of free, frog-themed activity sheets for celebrating Leap Day. Today, I’m sharing some of the frog-themed picture books and songs I’ll be reading/singing with my little ones that day.

I absolutely loved frogs as a little girl (and am rather fond of them, still), so we already own several books that touch on that topic. Among them are:

• Green Wilma (by Tedd Arnold) tells the story of a little girl who wakes up green, with an appetite for flies.
• Frog & Toad Storybook Treasury (by Arnold Lobel) describes the loyal friendship between the title characters, and their shared adventures.
• Frogs (by Gail Gibbons) gives factual information about amphibians in simple language, with colorful, clearly-labeled, realistic illustrations.
• Jump, Frog, Jump (by Robert Kalan) is a cumulative tale that will have kids chiming in on every page with warnings to the hapless frog.
• A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog (by Mercer Meyer) is a wordless storybook, full of laughs and high on charm.
• Froggy Gets Dressed (by Jonathan London) is Mom’s least favorite book on this list (I get weary of reading all those sound effects — zip! zap! zup!), but it’s included because my little ones enjoy the Froggy series so much.

And, speaking of my little ones, I talked them into singing a few of the frog songs we know on video, so I could share them with you in this post.

First is a song I learned almost thirty years ago when I was working with the preschool choir at my church. The words are simple:

A funny fat frog
Winkin’ and blinkin’
Lookin’ so sleepy
Sittin’ and thinkin’
Then… all of a sudden…
He jumps!

My choir students loved it then, and my children love it now, as you can tell by their giggles and the smiles on their faces:

[If you cannot see the embedded video, you may click here to view it.]

Next is a song we used to sing when I was doing summer missions in the Dallas projects. It goes like this:

Blaaaah-ooop went the little green frog one day.
Blaaaah-ooop went the little green frog.
Blaaaah-ooop went the little green frog one day,
And it echoed back ooop-blaaaah!

Kids compete to see who can stick their tongue out the farthest, although mine are being a little shy about doing so in this video:

[If you cannot see the embedded video, you may click here to view it.]

And last is a perennial favorite of bus drivers everywhere (right up there with “99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall”). There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea:

There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a hole, there’s a hole,
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.

There’s a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There’s a hole, there’s a hole,
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.

There’s a bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…

There’s a frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…

There’s a wart on the frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…

There’s a hair on the wart on the frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…

There’s a gnat on the hair on the wart on the frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…

That’s about as far as we’ve ever gotten, but feel free to create new verses that continue the theme for as long as your memory will hold out.

You really have to concentrate while singing this one, as it’s easy to get confused. It took us several tries before we finally got it right for this video:

[If you cannot see the embedded video, you may click here to view it.]

At any rate, I hope you’ll learn these songs and check out a few of the books. Your little ones are sure to enjoy them, not only on Leap Day, but all year long!