Kissing Froggies

On Saturday we took Little Page to see Up. This was her first theater experience, so it was very exciting for all of us. Her little legs barely hung over the seat, which kept popping up and folding her in half, which of course sent her into a fit of giggles. We were happy to offer her our laps for most of the movie.

Before the show there were an extraordinary number of previews, one of which was for Disney's new animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. This seems to be a new take on the classic fairy tale The Frog Prince. In this version a black princess (finally!) from New Orleans kisses an enchanted frog and is herself turned into a frog. I'm not sure where they're planning on going with that tale, but it reminded me of The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka.

If you've never read anything by Jon Scieszka, then you're in for a treat! He is such a clever children's author. In this book, he tells how the Frog Prince runs away from his unhappy marriage and looks for a witch to turn him back into a frog. He ends up meeting the witches from Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Hansel & Gretel in his journey. The witches are hilarious and the illustrations add to the humor. It's a book you will probably enjoy more than your kids, but what's wrong with that?

To go along with the story, Little Page and I made kissing frogs. This is a great craft for folding and cutting practice, and does not involve paint (which I always appreciate in a craft!). I helped her fold a cootie catcher (remember those?) out of green construction paper and stapled two of the sides together. We then cut out strips for the legs which we folded accordian-style. I free-handed a couple of feet out of the leftover paper and Little Page cut them out. We did the same for the crowns. Finally, we glued it all together, added some eyes, and voila! Kissing froggies. I'm sure you could improve upon this craft in any number of ways, so enjoy!