On Thursday, the population at Schultz Elementary School swelled by hundreds after third grade teachers at the school brought in 500 small plastic frogs to celebrate leap year.

The idea was spearheaded by third grade teacher Noelle DeSilvestri, who got the idea to bring in plastic frogs from social media. She said she wanted students to have a fun time on leap day and said she enjoyed seeing the students frantically searching for the frogs and collecting them Thursday.

“It’s about spreading kindness and joy to each other,” DeSilvestri said. “It’s about having fun.”

Third grade teacher Jess Schwab said the staff hid the frogs around the building Wednesday night and said when students entered the building on Thursday, they immediately began hunting for them.

“They were super cute, and most of the frogs were gone before kids even got to class,” Schwab said. “I thought it would bring joy to the kids. They work so hard.”

Third grader Kyler Hobbs said she “likes treasure hunts” and enjoyed getting to search the school for the frogs.

“I liked that they were small, and it was like a treasure hunt!” Kyler said. “It’s like they were tiny pets. You get to hang out with them, and they are cute companions.”

Kyler said she found eight frogs Thursday morning but only took one so other students would have a chance to get one.

“It was really fun!” he said.

Kyler will be a seventh grader at Dempsey Middle School when the next leap year arrives and she said she isn’t looking forward to it.

“I dont’t want to be in middle school,” Kyler said. “It would be fun, but they probably won’t do anything funner than elementary school. Elementary school is the best. … Leap years are fun, you get to do fun stuff. I feel bad for people who have a birthday on leap year.”

Tamara Hall, a fellow third grader, said she found six frogs but only took the first one.

“I really liked trying to find them,” Tamara said. “They were super cute and tiny.”

Tamara said “it’ll feel amazing” when she realized she’ll be in middle school on the next leap year.

Tyler Crisp, a third grader, didn’t realize students could collect the frogs for themselves until after he had already found eight of them and ran back to the first one he found to keep it.

“They come in all different colors,” Tyler said. “I found eight but only took one. I didn’t know we could collect them. I really like the tiny frogs.”

Tyler said he was surprised by the activity because he didn’t know what leap year was before Thursday.

Third grader Jude Wilder said he enjoyed having the frogs at the school.

“I like that you can walk around the school and have fun at the same time,” Jude said.

Jude said when the next leap year happens he feels four years will have “gone by really fast.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903