Tiny animals have it rough. They don’t want some bird swooping down to catch them for dinner. So animals find ways to hide – and scientists just found a frog that hides by becoming almost totally see-through, or “transparent.” That way it matches whatever green leaf it’s sleeping on. These “glass frogs” do this by sending all their blood (the dark stuff) deep inside their body. What if you could become see-through? You’d be hard to beat at hide-and-seek!
Wee ones: These see-through frogs look green when they’re on top of a leaf. Find 4 green things in your room.
Little kids: If you and your pet glass frog play hide-and-seek, and your friends find you in 11 seconds but take 6 seconds longer to find the frog, how fast do they find the frog? Bonus: Glass frogs turn see-through to sleep. If the frog sleeps from 10:00 at night to 5:00 the next morning, how long did the frog stay see-through?
Big kids: If there are 200 glass frogs hiding on one tree, 7 frogs on a second tree, and 81 frogs on a third, how many glass frogs in total are hiding? Bonus: 1/2 of them decide to play hide and seek. How many frogs come out to play?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone…you might find shirts, socks, books, or a blade of grass stuck to your sneaker.
Little kids: In 17 seconds. Bonus: 7 hours.
Big kids: 288 glass frogs. Bonus: 144 playful frogs.
