African Adventures

By Kirsty James

A couple of years ago I organised for a small group of 7- to 12-year-olds to come to our house and learn about Africa with my daughter. I’m a huge fan of picture books, and I knew there were some wonderful books about the continent that we could enjoy together. We met for a few hours once a week. About two-thirds of the time was spent reading the books and talking about what we had learned, but we also did a variety of activities, games and paper-based activities. 

Week one was all about diversity, and the book Africa is Not a Country was our starting point. We discussed stereotypes about Africa, then looked at the size of the country, and how environment, culture, religion and wealth varies across the continent. We took some time to discuss what we felt would be important to people in Africa, and how similar this would be to what’s important to Australians. We watched several short YouTube clips about everyday life, and coloured geographical features on the map. It was fascinating to look at the various African families featured in Material World which has photographs of people outside their homes with all their possessions. Hungry Planet follows a similarly engaging format, revealing what families around the world eat during the course of one week.

North Africa was our topic for week two, and we had some lovely books about the rich cultures of Egypt and Morocco. We spent time discussing Islam and completed a geometric drawing based on Islamic tile designs. Hands Around the Library was probably the first book in this unit which made me tear up; the true story of people of all faiths coming together to protect the Library of Alexandria. This was also the week we looked at climate and biomes across the continent and started to complete our record sheets. The older kids wrote four facts about most of the countries, the younger ones attached a sticker of the flag and drew a picture. The Lonely Planet Travel Book was a great source of information, as it has statistics and facts for every country.

Next, we moved to Southern Africa, learning about apartheid (The Day Gogo Went to Vote), ingenuity (Harnessing the Wind) and the spirit of creativity (Gugu’s House). I copied pictures of the book covers onto sticker paper, and the kids created a bibliography, drawing a line to the appropriate country on the map. The beautiful book Ashanti to Zulu introduced us to some of the African tribes, and each child chose four tribes to research and write about. Kudoda is a game from Zimbabwe played with a bowl of stones. The first player picks up one of the stones and throws it up in the air, and before it drops down, tries to pick up as many other stones in the bowl as he/she can. 

West Africa was another slightly teary week for me, and one of outrage for the girls in the group. Yatandou is the story of a girl who cannot attend school because she must stay home to pound millet, and many of the books we read addressed female inequality. In addition to beautiful illustrations, this book also shows how well-directed charity can change lives. Recycling was another theme, covered by both The Red Bicycle and One Plastic Bag. A great craft to accompany the latter book is to create a basket from old bags. One Hen introduced the idea of microfinance and was a big hit with all the group. It’s impossible to look at West Africa without talking about slavery. Africa is my Home started us out on this topic, and we watched a video and completed a worksheet on the triangular trade. Kofi and his Magic introduced us to Kente cloth and gave us our craft activity for the day – creating stamps to make repeat patterns. I also printed out a strategy game from Liberia called Queah and we played a fun jumping game called Ampe from Ghana.

The next week we moved on to East Africa. Beatrice’s Goat was another example of how a small donation can change someone’s life, and Mimi’s Village taught us about healthcare and the dangers of malaria. A Good Trade and Seeds of Change talked about water scarcity, gratitude and the power of an individual to lead change. So inspiring that I may have cried a little, but they were happy tears, and by now the kids had learnt to ignore me. This week we watched video clips about African animals, completed a food web, and learned the terms mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. After reading Mama Panya’s Pancakes, we made our own batch, though the chilli proved too much for some of the kids, and this is something they still laugh about now. 

Central Africa was our last area. By now the kids were getting more confident matching countries, flags, capitals and maps, so we played a game using four-part cards. All the kids worked together to match as many cards as possible, with hints where needed. This was a week where we covered a lot of history. We read African Beginnings, and watched clips about ancient civilizations like Great Zimbabwe, we also discussed and mapped imperialism in Africa. Brothers in Hope taught the kids about the war in Sudan and the refugee crisis, and we also listened to the audiobook A Long Walk to Water over the next week. Rain School gave us another reason to count our blessings, and our craft project (based on pictures of African masks) incorporated symmetry and the idea of negative/positive space.

Over the course of six weeks, we all learnt so much, and the kids were exposed to diverse and complicated ideas and topics. For me, the standout success (apart from the pancakes of course) was the quality of the picture books, the empathy they engendered, and the many examples they gave of how individuals or groups have changed the lives of those around them. I get a little teary just thinking about it.

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