Raising Tadpoles: A 1st Grade Science Project

First graders will love raising tadpoles in the classroom. Most importantly, they will be learning a lot about tadpole habitats and life cycles.

You will need the following items for this project:

1. Tadpoles
2. Tadpole tank (aquarium)
3. Fresh Water
4. Tadpole food
5. Some rocks and sand
6. Classroom chart (white posterboard)
7. Notebook for each child

Follow the steps below to learn all you can about tadpoles:

1. Acquire some tadpoles. This can be done 1 of 2 ways. You can take a class trip out to a fresh water source that has tadpoles and scoop them out in to fish nets, or you can buy some at a pet store. If you can not find a local pet store that carries tadpoles you can order them online. AquariumFish.net sells tadpoles.
2. Set up your aquarium so that it is ready for your tadpoles. You should add some sand and rocks to the bottom of your tank and then add a few inches of water. You don't need to fill the aquarium all the way because tadpoles don't like it that way. Leave your tank out overnight so that there is no chlorine left in the water.
3. Place your aquarium anywhere in your classroom that doesn't have any sun. Tadpoles don't like the sun and prefer shaded areas.
4. Pour your tadpoles in to their new home. This home is now called a habitat. A habitat is the environment a plant or animal needs to survive. The tadpole has it's fresh water, shade, and the food you are going to feed it.
5. Feed your tadpoles as soon as you put them in to the tank. They make tadpole pellets and tadpole flakes so you will have to decide which you prefer to use. Make a chart so that each child gets a turn to feed the tadpoles. If you have 20 children or less in your class then each child will get 1 turn per month. Hang the chart up somewhere near the tank. Using white posterboard is best.
6. Have the students draw a picture of the tadpoles the day you get them. Every couple of days after that have the children draw another picture of what the tadpole looks like. They should draw 1 picture to each page and date the page. After 2 months the children will see some drastic changes in their drawings and they can go back and remember what the tadpole looked like when they first got it.
7. Read the children stories about tadpoles from the library. There is a great one for first graders called From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer and Holly Keller. You can buy one used on Amazon for $.99. This book will explore the life cycle of the tadpole which should be the main point of your project.
8. Have the children at the end of the 12 weeks (the length of the time it takes for a tadpole to transform in to a frog) draw a diagram of the life cycle. You can draw one on the board and have them copy it. You just want to make sure they grasp the concept.

Warnings: Make sure all the children wash their hands after touching the tadpoles, frogs, or their tanks. Salmonella has been linked to this animal.