Common frog — facts for kids
Rana temporaria
The frog breathes through its skin. That is why it always has to stay damp, and why it lives close to the water. In winter it sleeps down in the mud at the bottom of the lake.
Field notes
How big?
About the size of your palm
How heavy?
As light as a couple of blocks
What does it eat?
Insects, snails and larvae
When can you see it?
April to September, near water
How big is it?
You
Common frog
Common frog is 7–10 cm long.
Look for this
Clumps of jelly balls in shallow water in spring. Each clump holds hundreds of tiny eggs.
How it sounds
A low purring creak, in short bursts from the reeds.
Fun to know
- A frog can jump twenty times its own length.
- It blinks with a third, see-through eyelid.
- Every frog starts life as a tadpole with a tail.
Meet the common frog for real
Around Lake Sidsjön in Sundsvall, Sweden, the animals stand in their real places. Come within ten metres and the common frog comes alive in the phone and answers children's questions. The trail is in Swedish.