Morning in the Meadow

Casy stretched her tiny green body as morning sunlight warmed Rainbow Meadow. The flowers around her swayed gently in the breeze, their bright colors making her smile.

"What a beautiful day," she said to herself, crawling along a daisy stem.

She noticed something strange near the meadow's edge. Through the tall grass, she could see sparkles of blue water. A pond! Casy had never seen one before.

Curious sounds came from that direction. Splash! Ribbit! Buzz!

"I wonder what lives over there," Casy whispered, her big brown eyes wide with wonder.

She started crawling toward the mysterious sounds, her antennas twitching with excitement.

The Pond's Edge Discovery

As Casy crawled closer to the pond, she gasped. Hundreds of tiny clear balls floated in clusters near the water's edge.

"What are these?" she wondered aloud.

A gentle splash made her look up. A bright green frog sat on a lily pad, watching her with bulging eyes.

"Those are my eggs," the frog said proudly. "I'm Lily. Each one will become a tadpole swimming with a tail and gills."

Casy's antennas twitched with amazement. "They turn into frogs like you?"

"Not right away," Lily explained. "First they'll be tadpoles living underwater, then they'll grow legs and lose their tails to become frogs."

A loud buzzing filled the air as flies swarmed above the water.

What we learned: Frogs start as eggs in water then become tadpoles with tails and gills. Tadpoles grow legs and lose their tails to become adult frogs.