dress-up paperdolls

Africa is famous for it's beautiful fabrics. Women wear bright color combinations with multiple patterns.

Dress-up Dolls
So, yesterday we dressed-up these paper dolls with let over pieces of fabric.
I prepaired the pieces of fabric by cutting them small. I printed a boy and girl coloring page which we used as dress-up doll.

The kids really loved it and they made many beautiful outfits.

all you need is:
- pieces of fabric
- sciccors
- glue
- paper with a poppet on it
- coloring pencils

Lego Piramide

building Piramides with Lego

Egyptian necklace

Yesterday we started with the theme Africa at my work.
We first 'visited' Egypte. I'm from the Netherlands and from Europe, Egypt is a logic place to start our journey through Africa.

Egyptian Necklace
On monday we started by making Egyptian Nacklaces like the farao's had.
We mainly used macaroni and golden paper. But the kids could use many other things to decorate their necklace.

Piramides
Today, Teusday we also build some piramides with the lego.
The kids made small once, but also big ones.

Africa month at my work

Since I'm going back to South-Africa in April I'm introducing Africa to the kids at my work.

I made this map of Africa to show the kids all the countries that we are going to talk about. I printed the map from this site. It's great!

I also made quite a few cards to show them the animals, people, fruit, fabrics (and traditional clothing) and lots more that we can find in Africa.

In the next couple of weeks I'll tell you everything about all the things and activities we are going to do!

Drakensbergen - Lesotho

In one of my last weekends I made a trip to Drakensbergen and Lesotho.
Lesotho is an enclaved landlocked country completly surrounded by South Africa.

Hluhluwe Safari - South-Africa

My third weekend trip was a Safari in the park HluHluwe (pronounce: SluSluwe).

I did see the complete Big Five: Elephant, Lion, Buffalo, Rhino and Leopard.

Here some pictures:

(not one of the Big Five)

Oribi Gorge - South-Africa

My second weekend trip was to Oribi Gorge (South-Africa).

I'll just show you the pictures.

Wild Coast - South-Africa

Last month I came back from 8 weeks South-Africa.
I did soms volentairs work and in the weekends I made some touristic tours. One was to the Wild Coast.

If you see the pictures, I'm sure I do not have to explain why it's cold the Wild Coast.

This last picture is of a mangrove forest at the Wild Coast

Continent box Africa #2 People

Hi everybody,

Today is International Nelson Mandela day, so this Friday we're looking at the people of Africa.

The people of Africa are on of the things that shows the variety of the continent. Their skin color is a little different every place you go, their clothes, their habits, their life.

I made 30 cards with pictures of the people of Africa, beautiful portrets from 30 different countries.
Here are a few.

these are actually the old ones. I re-did them and wrote the country under it.

Here are some.

 

 

Continent box Africa #2 Animals

Hi Tigers

Well that's just a word joke to introduce the next subject: African animals in my continent box.

Africa is known for its big and megificant animals but also for its deadly, fast and weird animals.
So far I have seen the camels and small crocodiles and many different birds. But last Sunday arrived in South-Africa for a two month stay and off course I will go on safari where i hope to see zebras, elephants, giraffes, wilde beast and many more.

In my continent box I have different ways of collecting the African animals. I'll show you.



A plastic camel, lion cub, jaguar, vulture and a stone elephant.

 Five drawings on postcards

And these cards. A selection form a supermarket collection "Super Animals" sponsort by the WNF (WWF)

National Anthem: South Africa

Today I'm flying to South Africa to do some volentering in the next 8 weeks.
So the next National Anthem Í'm doing is the South African (offcourse).

What I really like about this anthem is how it is build up from 5 of the 11 languages that South Africa has. Xhola, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans en English.
I actually think the South African anthem is one of the most beautiful in the world.

Here are the lyrics of the South African anthem:

(Xhosa)

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,

(Zulu)

Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo

(Sesotho)

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika — South Afrika.

(Afrikaans)

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

(English)

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.

 

 

Also listen to the song below, it's the same anthem but it repeats the pieces and I think it is really beautiful.

Books: Klappie

Klappie Tsau lives in a slum in South Africa. He thinks he is different form the other kids because he is part of the San-clan. He lives in a Township in South-Africa and he doesn't feels safe and want to run away.
When a gang attaches his village he runs in to the desert, alone.

He dreams of a life as a genuine San-warrior and goes on a day trip to join this very special people.

For all the Dutch readers of my blog: here a link to my children's book blog: http://www.mattysleukstekinderboek.blogspot.nl/2014/03/klappie-ashwin-moyene.html

Continent box Africa #1

Hi everybody,

Today we're going to travel to the continent of Africa. It's a really big continent with 54 countries. So there are lots of things to explore and discover about Africa.

Today we're going to Egypt!
In 2012 I went to Egypt for a holiday with my parents. We made a Nile Cruise for a week and we've seen the many wonders of Egypt (exept for the piramids)
I've you've been there you probably agree with me about the beauty and historical feeling the country gives. I've visited many old (very old) buildings in Europe, but walking through the Egyptian Temples really made me feel I traveled back in time.

Egypt has a very long and rich history so there are many items to find to represent Egypt. Here are the once I have collected so far: