Our toddler is all about flying, but in this pandemic world we are living in - we decided to take her around the world in her private pretend airplane to land in the continent of Africa. We explored different parts of this adventure filled continent from South Africa, to Kenya, Egypt, Morocco.
When we introduced the lesson of Africa, we started off by having the kids watch a National Geographic Kids video:
The continent of Africa
First activity we looked at the entire continent of Africa and searched for the 20 numbers (that is how high my 3 year old is able to count). We also talked about how many countries are in Africa (55). She put a dot on the numbers I called out, kind of like BINGO.
If you have a printer, you can print out an outline Africa. I didn't have one, so I sketched it out by hand.
South Africa
Once we landed in South Africa we started by sharing a video to learn some fun facts about this country:
After the 2 minute and 30 second video we jumped into some fun learning projects:
South Africa's flag - practicing coloring + following example instructions
If you have a printer, you can print out an outline South Africa's flag. I didn't have one, so I sketched it out by hand
Parent: Print out the outline of South Africa's flag.
Parent: Write the word of the color that goes in the correct section of the flag. Provide child with colors, markers or paint to create the flag
Child: Color in the flag and follow the example instructions.
Lion Mane - Practice Scissor Cutting Skills (fine motor skill)
Parent: with a yellow sheet of paper, cut out a circle and create a lion face
Parent: with an orange piece of paper cut out a bigger circle to make the mane. Draw lines for the child to cut
Child: Follow the lines on the orange paper to cut the mane of the lions hair
Child: Glue yellow lion face on top of the orange cut lions mane.
Kenya
National Geographic has 5 great videos to teach kids about the country of Kenya. We watched them all, but started with this one:
Activity:
Walking with a basket of food: My 3 year old used a weaved basket to collect food from the house. She then walked with the basket on top of her head, just like the women in small villages do in Kenya.
Weave a basket out of construction paper: This was a simple project, but patients is definitely needed for a 3 year old. Cut a brown piece of paper in the shape of a basket (mine looked like a boat). Then cut a few strips of paper in a long rectangle shape. Next slice a few slits throughout the basket paper so the toddler can weave the paper through. Make sure to make bigger holes so the preschooler can easily weave.
Morocco
What a beautiful and colorful country to learn about! We focused on the mosaic side of Morocco with our lessons.
Activity 1: "M is for Morocco" I freehanded the box letter M and filled it in with letters form the alphabet. Then my preschooler painted the letters as I would show her the letter flashcard.
Activity 2: "DIY Mosaic" This was a fun one. First cut out shapes of cardboard. Have your preschooler paint the tiles any color they want. And let them glue + paste the cardboard tile to the paper to create their own mosaic.
Egypt
Egypt's history is so vast and ancient. There was so much to explore. National Geographic Kids has a lot of videos that cover topics all across Egypt. One of our favorites was the pyramids:
Activity 1: After watching the video, we practiced my preschoolers name by building a pyramid:
Activity 2: "Color Ancient Egyptian King Tut" I don't have a printer so I sketched this based off of a drawing I saw online.
Africa is so rich in history, beauty and a variety of cultures. My preschooler enjoyed this theme and we can't wait to return to this one as we only scratched the surface of the adventures throughout Africa.