Sometimes the spontaneous ideas are the best. When Larry opened the shed to get his bike out he was gobsmacked to find a large frog lolling on the wheel of his bike. He watched it for ages, bombarding me with questions as to how and why a frog was in our shed, why it wasn’t in a pond, where had it come from, what it would eat etc etc…

“We should make a pond in our garden one day,” he suggested, looking at me doubtfully but hopefully. “What a great idea! Maybe next year,” I replied. But then – oh what the heck! The words of that Tracy Chapman song came into my head – “If not now, then when?”

We only have a tiny garden so it would have to be a tiny pond. Luckily frogs are quite happy with tiny ponds. There was only one possible spot for it – a little overgrown patch of vegetation next to the shed. We set to work cutting back the brambles and other greenery to make a little basin-sized patch in the middle. Larry was keen to use the secateurs, so I showed them how to hold them with two hands like a small pair of shears. Joe used a pair of blunt child’s scissors to trim back some of the softer stems.

Next for the digging – I did most of it myself, but left some soft earth at the bottom for the boys to dig out. They both got well stuck into it, using their long-handled beach spades and merrily chucking the earth over their shoulders.

Hole completed we fitted the basin in – an old black basin that was already in the garden when we moved into this house (perhaps used for frogs by previous residents). It had been lying in a corner filled with earth and weeds, but I cleaned it up and tucked it into the hole. We searched around for rocks to place at the bottom – safe hiding and lounging places for the frog.

As soon as we’d placed the rocks, both boys suddenly appeared with full watering cans in their hands – Larry had filled them from the garden tap. “Weeeee!” they shouted as they poured the water in. I hadn’t intended to fill the pond this way – it’s best to use rain water – but there was no stopping them and they were having such fun! It was their project – their frog pond – and they had taken control of proceedings.

Pond filled, Larry decided to make some ‘frog dens’ around the pond with small pieces of wood from our log pile. We placed stones around the edge to make it look pretty. Then – mission complete! We have a tiny frog pond!

Larry was determined to see the frog actually jumping into the pond, but it was nowhere to be seen. I explained that our presence might frighten the frog. He used some stealth tactics, hiding round the side of the shed then suddenly peering round to catch the frog in action. Of course the frog still didn’t appear. So Larry decided to make a sign for the pond, with a picture of a frog, so the frog would know to use the pond. “Mummy, I think loads of frogs will come from other ponds and all jump into our pond at the same time!”

Come on frogs!