Animal Tales

Today we spend some time reading and writing about the fascinating people and magnificent wildlife of Kenya.

From Kenya: Enchantment of the World we see pictures of Nairobi, the capital city, with its highrise buildings and urban feel. It’s hard to believe that the Masai Mara is only about 160 miles away, because the lifestyles are worlds apart. From the beautiful book Maasai the kids gain an understanding of the Maasai people, the nomadic tribe that lives in and near the Masai Mara much as they did 300 years ago.

We see pictures of the Maasai huts built of sticks and covered in animal dung for waterproofing. We learn that the Maasai use jewelry, clothing and body paint to honor each stage of life (similar to the way that husbands and wives wear wedding bands in our country).

We read about their rituals, such as the jumping dance, and notice that for Maasai warriors (Ilmoran) body paint often resembles animal markings. For today’s art activity the kids will use face paint to create their own animal prints. They are very excited! But first we talk more about the animals, the other interesting inhabitants of the Masai Mara’s golden grasslands.

From the picture book Africa Calling: Nighttime Falling the kids get a good idea of the expanse of the savannah (the Masai Mara is about 1500 sq km). In Kenya, the national reserve is called the Masai Mara, and in neighboring Tanzania, the grasslands are called the Serengeti, which translates to “endless plains.” From African Animal Alphabet we learn all sorts of cool things about the animals that live there. From teeny dung beetles, who fertilize the land spreading bits of animal droppings, to meerkats who eat poisonous scorpions, and lions who eat more than 30 pounds of meat a day, all the animals play an important role in the savannah.

The best way to see these majestic creatures, in their natural habitat, is on safari and I tell the kids about my own safari adventures. At one point, our jeep got completely stuck in the mud, deep in the savannah. Scary! Since safaris are full of adventure we use this as a topic for creative writing today. We talk about how they can be exciting, interesting, and bit dangerous, and then it’s time for the kids to write their own stories and imagine how their safari would end if their jeep was stuck in the mud…

CZ’s tale has an elephant who is tracking a peanut butter sandwich…

and AZ’s features a threatening giraffe and lion who comes home as a pet. Yikes!

Now onto facepaint…Here we see some examples of the Maasai warriors markings on their legs.

Young Maasai men use red paint as a symbol of strength. They wear their hair in long braids, also covered in red paint. They are given the best meat to eat as they need to be kept strong for hunting and fighting, and wear the brightest colored jewelry and clothes.

We don’t make our paint out of crushed berries and mud like the Maasai would and opt for a face paint kit instead..

First the kids decide which animals they would like to use as inspiration..

And then they get started…we use q tips as they seem easier to control than the paint brushes…

HZ’s zebra is getting his stripes…

AZ carefully paints some leopard spots…

The finished product:

CZ’s lion:

HZ adds some yellow to his zebra because he notices that in the picture many of the white stripes actually contain brown or light yellow.

Lions, and leopards and zebras, oh my!

Moroccan Style

Morocco is a beautiful and exotic country whose culture and style is shaped by its rich Berber and Islamic history. From Morocco: Enchantment of the World we learn about the meaning behind the intricate tile patterns that decorate so many walls, floors, and important buildings in Morocco.

We read that the Koran does not allow images of animals or people to prevent Muslims from worshiping other gods or creating idols. Because of this, decorations in Morocco often featured geometric shapes repeated to form a pattern. Koranic script was also incorporated into the design in many cases. While the patterns might look busy, they are actually very calming. Some patterns are very intricate and others are quite simple, with only one shape repeated over and over.

While we live thousands of miles away from Morocco, and our culture is quite a bit different, we see the influence of Moroccan design all around us. We head to a local  store and quickly find many examples…

A colorful plate…

A bowl with a tile patterned rim…

A placemat…

A table runner…

A cluster of candles!

a foot mop!

A selection of lanterns…

An area rug…

And an even larger rug…

Lamps…

Lots of sheets!

A pattern of pottery…

Gift bags!

Several ceramic table tops…

Giant flip flops!!

And a pair of bottles

Comfy chairs

…and even cozy baby blankets.

As you can see, the Moroccan influence is all around us. Hopefully now that the scouts have learned a bit about its history, they will appreciate its beauty even more!

Mastering Mancala

From the interesting book Life in Ancient Africa we learn about a game called Mancala that dates back to 1500 BC. The Ancient Africans believed that it tested intelligence and used it as part of their education. Today it is popular all over Africa, though many countries have different names and rules for the game.

Originally the game was played in the dirt, by scooping a set of parallel holes in the ground and moving pebbles from hole to hole. Later game boards were carved out of stone. This example was found at an Aksumite site in Ethiopia and dates back to the 7th century AD.

Size and design of Mancala boards and gameplay vary by region but they all contain “pits” and “seeds.” We create our game by using an egg carton and two little boxes. The boxes are the “capture pits.” Instead of seeds we use beads. Traditionally seeds, pebbles, or beans are used.

The kids count out 48 beads and place 4 beads in each “pit” of the egg carton.

The idea of the game is to “sow” your seeds around the board until you have none on your side and to try to capture the most seeds in the process. We go over the game rules (here’s a good primer) and the girls think this will be easy and fun.

But pretty quickly the game gets serious!! They realize a little thinking goes a long way…

They game is over when one player’s side is empty of beads. They count up the beads in their capture box..

And we have a winner! (With some very kind moves from her big sister.)

They quickly ask to play again 🙂

Week 4–Africa–Hujambo!

We begin week 4 before bedtime and after a long hot afternoon at the beach, so tonight is a short one but I’m excited for this week. Some of my favorite places to visit are in Africa–Egypt, Kenya and Morocco. I think the scouts will really enjoy learning about these fascinating countries.

We start with the pledge that CZ decided last week we should add to the beginning of each meeting. Next we turn to our globe and our children’s atlas to get started. We learn that there are about 50 countries in Africa. The girls guess how many different languages are spoken there–CZ says 25 and AZ thinks it could be 51. The correct answer? 2000-3000! They are amazed.

We read about the extremes of climate and terrain in Africa. The vast desserts, wild grasslands and swampy rainforests, the world’s highest sand dune (Erg Tifernine in the Sahara is 1,300 feet tall), the highest peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet), and the hottest place on earth–Al’Aziziyah in Libya reaches 136 degrees! This seems unimaginable to us as it was just under 100 degrees in our town today and we can’t imagine it getting any hotter.

From the book Explore the World of Man-Made Wonders we learn a bit about the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. (The kids ask again to hear the story about the time the woman in front of me almost got stuck in the very narrow and dark passage of The Great Pyramid.) We read that 2,300,000 blocks of stone were used to build the pyramid over 4,000 years ago. Each block weighed about 6,000 pounds! Groups of men pulled the blocks up long ramps to reach the top. Inside the pyramid is a maze of passageways, one leading to a chamber that housed the sarcophagus of Pharaoh Cheops and others leading the empty chambers that were meant to trick tomb raiders. The Pharaoh’s chamber was filled with treasures, food and furniture because the Ancient Egyptians believed that the dead could bring these things with them into their afterlife.

From the book Egypt:Enchantment of the World we learn about hieroglyphics, the Egyptian alphabet that dates back to 3000 BC. Pictures stood for different sounds and by 300 BC their alphabet contained more than 700 symbols. AZ gives it a try:

From DK’s Africa we read a bit about the ways that different African cultures use jewelry, colorful fabrics, face paint and tattoos to adorn themselves.

The beautiful and colorful beaded jewelry of the Maasai  tribe immediately catches AZ’s eye. But CZ can’t look when she seems that some tribes use a piece of bone or stones to stretch out their ear lobes and lips! Ouch! Actually, the books says that it does not hurt at all, but she is still cringing.

On that note we decide to call it a night but look forward to our own adventures in Africa this week 🙂