From Germany, we hopped on an 11-hour flight down to the beautiful country of South Africa! This will be our last stop on our international trek! Last week’s break was unplanned (but necessary…mama’s gotta work!) and August is not slowing down one bit because in one more week, my kiddo’s school is back in session albeit from home! So, I prepared our last stop with three days’ worth of learning and fun activities. Enjoy!
Day 1 - South Africa Introduction and Apartheid
It was so difficult to pick a country from the African continent but I settled on South Africa because even before I came up with this #ATWWK series, I knew I wanted to teach my kids more about racism. We touched upon that in Germany last week with Anne Frank and the Holocaust. The history of apartheid in South Africa is also another example that I thought we could all learn from. But before we get into that, we get a little 101 on the southernmost country of Africa with a book and video.
- Read – First, we read this book on Epic that covers the country’s history as well as what daily life is like.
- Watch – This 3-min video follows a travel journalist around various areas in South Africa and is a great visual introduction. Neither the book or the travel video talked about the early history of South Africa, so we watched this informational one that discusses the history behind and meaning of the South African flag. If you have older kids, this animated video by the same creator goes in further depth on history (3000BC to 1879AD!).
- Color – So while we watched that flag video, the kids completed this coloring sheet of the flag. Then, we just had fun by making our own flags using a blank sheet of paper and spent time talking about the meaning behind our flag design.
- Watch/Read – Next, we switched gears to learn about apartheid by watching this BrainPOP video. If you don’t have access to BrainPOP, this read-to-me book on Nelson Mandela, particularly the first 7 pages, is a great overview that young children can understand. This is also a great resource for older kids who can navigate themselves on the internet. We also watched this video on BrainPOP Jr about Ruby Bridges. Even though we are “in” South Africa, Ruby’s story demonstrates racial divide and injustice can (and unfortunately does) happen in all parts of our world.
- Learn – Today’s learning is a little different from the other week’s. I simply spent time introducing new vocabulary to my kids, such as: racism, ethnicity, self-esteem, fairness, discrimination, bias, privilege, ally, etc).
- Discussion – Earlier this summer, I purchased a digital resource (written by two Black elementary school teachers who are also mamas) called “The POC Families’ Guide for Talking About Racism” and we went through a few prompts and exercises. There is also one for white families.
Day 2 - Safari Animals
So I’ve been told that if you ever visit South Africa, you gotta go on a safari so here’s us doing that! We decided to spend a little extra time on the zebra animal since my daughter’s name starts with a Z but feel free to research other animals that your child is interested in.
- Watch – We added a little science into our day, we watched this Mystery Science video wondering why zebras have stripes.
- Read – We kicked off our safari by reading “We All Went On Safari: A Counting Journey Through Tanzania” (yes, yes, I know, it’s not South Africa but I really like the illustrations and introduction to foreign languages, which in this case was Swahili.) Then we focused in on zebras and found many on Epic. We ended reading this one that is great for ages 4-8.
- Learn – Teachers Pay Teachers website has a lot of great resources and is where I like to get printables. I figured if they are using them in the classroom, they’ve got to be legit!
- For my incoming pre-K kiddo: we used this free digital worksheet set that covered counting, beginning sounds, cutting practice, and visual measuring. Here’s another great free worksheet set that focuses on letter tracing and pictorial addition.
- For my incoming 2nd grader: he practiced zebra skip counting by 100s and differentiated between plural and possessive nouns.
- Draw – We channeled our inner artist and learned how to draw a cartoon zebra with Art for Kids Hub.
- Move – Next, we got in some physical activity with this 20-min episode of Cosmic Yoga about Lulu the Baby Lioness.
- Craft – We made puppet zebras using paper rolls. My kids had fun running around the house with their zebras. See “Freebie” craft below.
"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted."
-Bill Bryson, American-British Author
Day 3 - South African Culture
Well jetsetters, this is our LAST day on this “Around the World” With Kids series and yet there are still so many countries/cities to explore. In fact, my son asked if we could go to Central America next! Ha! Maybe for fall break if we’re still in the distant learning model (goodness, I hope not!).
While the original intent in this series was to keep my kiddos from strangling each other getting bored this summer, I also wanted them to treasure the idea of traveling. This quote by Bill Bryson sums it up best. He says, “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” I 💯💯💯 agree!!! I believe by experiencing other cultures, our eyes begin to see beyond the tiny personal world that we live in. We begin to not only recognize how special these cultures are but how special the people are too.
So in the spirit of treasuring travel and diverse global cultures, our third day in South Africa will focus on their beautiful culture.
- Listen – Oh friends, what a find on our last day! In my hunt for African folklore, I came across this podcast created for kids that featured a collection of traditional tales. This non-visual method of learning is new for them but such a good way to exercise imagination! The kids loved the fun sound effects while I loved the morals of the stories. If you wanted to preface this listening activity with the history and purpose of folk tales, you can summarize the top half of this page to your kiddos.
- Music – As we learned on Day 1, there is more than one official language in South Africa so it was fascinating to hear various South African songs in those different languages but with tunes that we know, like Baa Baa Black Sheep.
- Watch – Aside from reading a book, you can learn about a culture through other avenues, like the Ingoma dancing of the Zulu culture. This 2-min video provided great narration that kids can understand.
- Art – Next, we learned about Ndebele art, an artform dating back to the 19th century. When the Ndebele people of South Africa lost the war against the neighboring Boers in 1883, they turned to art with symbols to express their grief. Unbeknownst to the Boers, these symbols were actually code that only the Ndebele people understood. It was their expression of both cultural resistance and continuity. This online article has many pictures and more detailed description of this stunning artform. We tried making our own Ndebele art by creating postcards! We folded half a sheet of paper. The kids used a pencil to create a simple geometric design on one side. Then, they tried their best to reflect that design onto the other side. I went over the pencil lines with a large Sharpie so that the lines were a little more straight. We talked about the concept of symmetry. Lastly, they added bright colors to complete the design.
- Write – With these newly made Ndebele-inspired postcards, my son wrote on the blank side about his trip around the world. The writing prompt can be anything!
- Cook – My family loves donuts so when I stumbled upon this South African doughnut recipe, I knew I had to add it to our summer school. Unfortunately, we ran out on this day but will definitely be making these one weekend. The ingredients are typical baking ones so don’t worry about having to get unusual ingredients! 🙌🙌🙌
Extra Credit
This educational website had some fascinating information and facts about South Africa that older children might appreciate. Under the “Just for fun” section are additional ideas and activities, like listening to rhymes and songs in Afrikaans or make a 3D shoebox safari.
Sometime in the past couple months, I learned that teaching our kids to be anti-racist not only includes teaching them the history of racial injustice but to also read more books featuring people of color as well as their achievements and contributions to the world. Here is a running list of books we’ve read and will read. I am going to be intentional about reading books highlighting POC throughout my kids’ childhood, especially since they are biracial.
- Sleep Well, Siba and Saba (on Epic)
- Sulwe (read aloud on YouTube)
- Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions (read aloud on YouTube)
- Mixed Me! (read aloud on YouTube)
- Computer Decoder: Dorothy Vaughan, Computer Scientist (on Epic)
- Last Stop on Market Street (animated read aloud on Epic)
- Under My Hijab (on Epic)
- Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin (on Epic)
- Suki’s Kimono (read-to-me on Epic)
- This is How We Do It (read aloud on YouTube) – we have this book at home and my kids LOVE reading it over and over again.
Freebie!
When I started this #ATWWK series, it was not planned to always use paper rolls as the main craft supply but I was kind of curious to see how much can be done with a simple household item. As a kid with not a ton of toys growing up, I used anything around the house for my craft creations so it was fun to show my kids that you can create anything as long as you have imagination! These paper roll zebras were inspired by our Day 2 safari. Here’s how you can make one too! Use the picture above as a visual reference.
Supplies needed: two paper rolls, glue, black string/yarn, scissors, pushpin, two popsicle sticks, thick/medium rubberband, and googly eyes (or black marker if you don’t have googly eyes).
Step 1 – Print out this week’s free printable and cut out the various pieces. Note: you may need to trim the zebra sheets to match the correct height of one of your paper rolls.
Step 2 – Glue the larger zebra sheet to one paper roll. I suggest you place the roll on the middle of the sheet and wrap the sides around. This piece is the zebra’s body.
Step 3 – Cut your second paper roll in half. You can save the other half for another zebra. Repeat step 2 using the smaller zebra sheet. This piece is the zebra’s head.
Step 4 – With a pushpin, push a hole on the top side of both ends of the larger paper roll. Then, push two holes on the underside on both ends for the zebra legs.
Step 5 – Recommend adult to do this: push in each tiny hole with the tip of your scissors and wiggle to make it big enough for yarn to pass through. Be sure not to make it too big that the yarn easily slips out.
Step 6 – On the zebra head roll, push a hole on the top and underside on only one end of the roll. Again, use scissors to create a slightly bigger hole.
Step 7 – Fold the ear end a little and add a dab a glue. Place both pieces on zebra head, on the side closer to the pushpin holes.
Step 8 – Glue googly eyes in front of the ears on the zebra’s head.
Step 9 – Cut two pieces of string of equal length (at least 8″ long) and thread through the holes on the underside of the larger roll. These are the zebra’s legs
Step 10 – Fold the black rectangles in half. Dab glue on the inside of the fold and fold it over one end of the string. These are the zebra’s hooves. Repeat this step for all other hooves.
Step 11 – Make an “X” with the two popsicle sticks and secure its shape by wrapping/twisting a rubberband around it a couple times.
Step 12 – Cut two long pieces of string (at least 15″ long) and double-knot the ends of both string.
Step 13 – Thread one untied end from the inside of one of the top side holes on the zebra’s body (aka the larger roll). Let the string hang loose for now.
Step 14 – With the other long string, repeat step 13. Make a knot about 1.5 in from the zebra’s body. This knot is to keep the zebra’s head from slipping down the string. Next, insert the string from the bottom hole of the zebra’s head and the pull the string out of the top hole.
Step 15 – Hold up these two long strings and level your zebra puppet. Tie the strings to the popsicle-stick hand controller. And voila! You have a zebra puppet!
And my jetsetter friends, that’s a wrap! Thank you for joining us on our journey around the world! Somehow the summer just flew by even though back in June, I was certain it would move like a snail since we planned to lay low until real school started.
Did your kids have a favorite destination? Both kids said Germany was their favorite…I’m pretty sure it was due to all the sugary treats we had celebrating “Christmas in July” and Hawaii came in a close second!
We never made it to South America but it sounds like we will be heading there next since my son woke up the other day asking “When are we going to see the Amazon rainforest?” 😳😂 So keep those passports handy, we might see you again! 👋👋👋