Exercises to encourage research and sharing of knowledge of Africa
Just a Minute
One student is given a topic and then talks on that topic for one minute without
repeating a fact, deviation or hesitation. The broader the topic, the easier it
is to complete the minute. Another student can make a challenge if there is repetition,
incorrect fact, hesitation or deviation. If the challenge is successful that students
continues on without the time starting again. A stopwatch is useful.
Sketch Map
Children select a topic e.g. games played in Africa, where do people live or animals
of Africa. Then they sketch a map of their talk i.e. five or six sequenced pictures,
to remind them of the information they might like to provide.
Alternative
One student provides a sketch map and another student provides the presentation.
Word Facts
This activity can be played in small groups or as one large group. Each student
is given a number from 5 to 10. Students stand in a circle, the number they have
been given is the number of words they are permitted to use. Going around the circle,
students provide facts about a topic using their permitted number of words. This
activity can be made harder by limiting the time for a student to make a response
and limiting the number of words.
Cooking foil models
Students use cooking foil to create models eg
- Animals
- Types of housing
- Landscapes
- A map of Africa or individual countries of Africa
- Foods of Africa
Countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
Information about countries of Africa can be found at:
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Home_Page/Country.html
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/africa/countries-en.asp
Jigsaw activity
This can be a small group, individual or paired activity.
Students are given a shape each representing the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
and collate the together to form the map of Sub-Saharan Africa. As an addition,
from a pack of cards, students each select a country capital and locate it on the
jigsaw. The world map website, focusing on Sub-Saharan maps can make the task of
drawing the shapes easy for you as country outline maps are provided. http://www.worldmap.org/country.php?ROG3=SU
Treasure hunt
An interactive journey for younger students around Africa with Anansi the Spider
and steps for making an Adinkra Cloth. The site contain instructions for creating
Anansi. Anansi features in a number of African folktales http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Kids/kids.htm
Guess the country 1
One student is given a shape representing a country of Africa. That
student provides six to ten facts about that country to another student/class who
has to guess which country has been described.
Guess the country 2
The following site is an online quiz website where students can locate countries
and their physical features. The quiz is self-correcting.
http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/mapquiz/ssa/ssamenu.htm
Who am I?
3 to 5 students stand at the front of the class with the name of an African country
or animal attached to the front of their hat. They cannot see who they are.
They take turns ask students in the class questions about themselves until
they guess their own identity. The first to guess correctly wins.
Africa Map Puzzles
Free download games to encourage matching capitals and countries
and trivia quizzes can be found at:
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/puzzle_afr.htm
http://members.aol.com/bowermanb/africagames.html
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm
http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/School_Time/Social_Studies/World_Cultures/Africa/
Picture Book/Murals
Students draw or download images from the web to create their own picture books
of Sub-Saharan Africa and they add captions. Each student could develop a page or two
for a class mural.
General awareness raising activities
Water-Carriers
Two players compete in this game. For each player there is a chair with a bowl of
water and a spoon on it. A few steps away there are two more chairs with an empty
glass on each of them. The object of the player is to fill the empty glass with
water as soon as possible. The player who is the first to do it is the winner.
Head, Hand And Feet
Students move a distance of 10-20 meters with a book on their head, with a glass
full of water in their left hand and a broom in the right. At the same time they
must roll a ball with your feet. The fastest is the winner.
Both activities encourage discussion – not all families have running water. How
much water would you need to carry per day
- For yourself?
- For your family?
- How much would this weigh?
- What would you carry it in?
- Where would you get it from?
- How could you carry it without spilling and wasting it?
- Whose job is it to carry water? Why?
What Is It?
Everyone takes a sheet of paper and at the top of it draws the head of an animal,
reptile or a bird found in Africa. Then the sheet must be folded so as the drawn
head can't be seen, except a little part of the neck. Then this drawing is passed
to the next player. Now every player has a new sheet with the picture he/she
hasn't seen yet. He/she continues drawing. Now everyone draws the body then folds
the paper and again passes it to the next player. The low extremities are drawn last.
- Think of a name for this new creature?
- What would its habitat be like?
- How would it move?
- What would it eat?
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