Leap Year Jumping Frog Activity
2024 is a Leap Year, which of course means an extra day on February 29th! We always found leap years fascinating and my kids always get excited for that “extra day”. There are many fun Leap Year activities you can do.. but one, I think you simply will HAVE to include are our Leap Year Origami Jumping Frogs or the cute “Leap Frog”! They are fun to make, you can play with them (watch them leap) and they tick the STEAM project box (origami is maths based). What is not to love!
Easy Leaping Frog Origami for Leap Day
Of course our Jumping Frogs are NOT new! We made them a few years ago and love making these as origami spring craft. But they are also really cute for Halloween – as you can “make them” jump into our out of a witch’s cauldron! So fun. Making a great origami Halloween game.
As 2024 is a leap year, I thought I would share them again, in case you have missed them in the past!
As mentioned in previous articles, I spent a fair amount of time, exploring different jumping frog origami patterns and have selected the easiest of them all! Hopefully you will enjoy making it!
Educational benefits for making origami frogs for Leap Year:
There are a few educational benefits of making these jumping frogs in the classroom this year:
- Firstly, celebrate Leap Year – it is after all an important date in calendars that students should learn about
- All origami is math based – as you are looking at symmetry, angles, lines etc. So is often classes as a STEAM project (and ticks you STEAM requirement box!)
- Students practice their reading and comprehension skills (if using my work sheets)
- You can add more science when looking at the jumping frogs trajectories and working out how far you can make them jump
- Oh.. and it is simply a fun activity! Especially when the kids get to play with their frogs!
So come this month of February – join us for some leap day fun and make this paper frog hop!
More cute Leap Year Themed Frog Crafts – our potato print frog cards and Leap Year Headbands!
Paper Leaping Frog Craft – supplies needed:
You simply need paper to make these origami frogs – and markers/ pens if you wish to colour and them in afterwards/ decorate them!! If you don’t have a square piece of origami paper or pretty craft papers, take ordinary printer paper, some scissors and cut it down to size. I would avoid using construction paper, as it is a little thick and some of the folds will get tricky. So:
- per frog – 1 square sheet of paper – any size. We like using between 12cm x 12cm and 15cm x 15cm
- OPTIONAL: marker pens, glue stick & white paper for decorating
You can also have fun draw or make a simple “paper pond or lily pads” or “paper cauldron” or write out the words 2024 to use as tiddly winks crazy frog target practice!
Printable worksheets (ad-free) are available in my Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s store as requested by a number of readers!
How to make Easy Jumping Frog Origami:
We made a little video tutorial for you – as Origami is MUCH easier to learn and follow on video! The video is on autoplay, so do take your time to check it out. I have however, of course, also added some photo origami frog instructions, so you can browse those at your leisure too! Whatever tutorial you find easy to follow!
Origami Frog Step by Step Tutorial
For those of you who prefer the step by step photo instructions.. read on! As mentioned you can make these paper frogs any colour you wish. Just have fun and as always work with what you already have. I am a great believer in not going out and buy unnecessary supplies!
Make a smaller square
If using origami paper, place with the white-side up on the table.
The beginning of this origami project is very similar to the basic folds of a classic fortune teller/ Cootie Catcher. You first need to create two guide lines.
Take the bottom flap of your square and fold up.
Open up again.
Now make a second fold from left to right.
Open up again.
You should have a square with a cross folded on it.
Take the bottom corner and fold to meet the centre of the cross.
Now work your way around each corner and fold into the middle.
Make nice neat creases as you go as that will make later folds easier.
You should end up with a “new” smaller square!
Create a kite shape
Rotate the square by 90 degrees, so you have a diamond in front of you (top left image).
Fold down the top right edge, to meet the central line.
Repeat for the left edge and meet the central line. You should now have a kite shape (top right image).
Take the bottom triangle and fold up. (Bottom two images).
Keep shaping your origami frog
Take the right corner and bring to the middle. Make a neat crease (top left image).
Repeate for the left side (top right image).
Fold the bottom edge up (bottom left image).
Then fold half way down (bottom right image).
Make a neat crease (top left image). The layers of paper folded down will be your “jumping” mechanism.
Now take the narrow top point and fold down.
Flip over.. and you have your basic frog shape (bottom right image), that now jumps.
Decorate your origami frog
Now decorate your frogs as much as you wish. We added darker green dots with a green marker pen and cut out paper eyes to glue on with a glue stick! You could probably use some googly eyes too.. but they will change the weight of the frog and maybe not make it jump so well!
Now decorate your frogs as much as you wish. We added darker green dots with a green marker pen and cut out paper eyes to glue on with a glue stick! You could probably use some googly eyes too.. but they will change the weight of the frog and maybe not make it jump as well!
The frogs jump best if you use two fingers to press down and release! Maybe write out 2024 in bubble writing and see if you can make your origami frog jump over it! ENJOY!
Check out more Leap Year Activities here:
More fun Frog Crafts to explore here:
