Opening kids’ eyes to the wide world around them is such a fun experience. It is essential to let them see that not everyone lives like they do, uses the same tools, or even looks like them. When children learn about other cultures, they can see what makes each one unique and special. Planning South Africa preschool activities has never been easier.
Before learning about someplace new, it’s fun to give your little one some background information. Encourage them to ask questions while doing these South Africa preschool activities.
- Print out a map of the continent of Africa.
- Have your preschooler find the very tip (at the bottom) of Africa.
- *Many different languages are spoken in South Africa.
- Introduce the word ‘safari’ to the children.
Most children have seen the movie Lion King. Talk about the movie to get them thinking about African animals. What is a safari? Where would you go on a safari? How does the landscape look like? What would you find there? (eg. What types of animals might you find on a safari? (eg.
South Africa is over 90% sandy desert. Let your little one play in the sand with some plastic animals and pretend they are in one of the sandy deserts in South Africa. While they play, you may want to talk about how hot the desert is and that there isn’t much rain.
Exploring African Animals
Print African animals pictures. Choose a picture without showing it to the children. Say, “I went on safari, and what did I see? I saw a (describe the animal) example tall animal with a long neck looking at me!” Let children guess the animals. Show the picture to the children and let them describe the animal. What color is it, how many legs does it have, do they know what the animal eats?
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Arusha, Mosi, Tumpe and their Maasai friends travel through the grasslands of Tanzania and count animals along the way. The children encounter all sorts of animals including elephants, lions, zebras, and monkeys, while counting from one to ten in both English and Swahili.
Glue pictures of African animals on construction paper. Hide a picture of each animal in various places outside. Before going outside talk about the weather in the Africa. Discuss that the animals and people need to protect themselves from the hot strong sun. The animals look for shade from trees, roll in mud, or cool down in the water. People wear sun hats and drink lots of water.
Explain to children that you will go on a safari outside. Invite children to walk around looking through their binoculars to find some wild animals that are hiding. After 5 minutes call children back to your "camp". Ask children which kind of animals they saw on their safari. Do they remember where the zebra was? Ask one child to go and catch the animal.
Animal-Themed Activities
- Create letter animals for some of the animals native to South Africa.
- Children walk like an elephant on all four legs, trying to keep their balance while lifting a front leg and a back leg.
- Children match pattern block shapes to the shapes on the mats to make wild animals.
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Delving into South African Culture
South Africa is a meeting ground for many cultures. Because of this, it’s hard to pinpoint certain South Africa preschool activities to do about culture. Ndebele art is a unique type of art made by Ndebele people. It features bold colors and geometric patterns.
After looking at some Ndebele art, let your little one make their own using geometric pattern blocks. To take it a step further, try putting down a sheet of paper so their design makes a rectangle. You can also make a cardboard frame for them to make a pattern.
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The South African flag is made up of six different colors. Recreate it a bit easier by looking at it piece by piece. To make this a bit easier, you may wish to cut out the pieces of the flag and have your little one put them together like a puzzle.
Beads are incorporated in many of South Africa’s traditional dress pieces. Create bead patterns to bring this concept to life.
There is a traditional dance in South Africa called the Gumboot Dance. The dancers wear gumboots (rain boots) while dancing.
Masks have been made for thousands of years from all kinds of materials and for many different uses. Some are religious, or represent nature and tribal ancestors. Using a paper plate fold in 1/2.Cut out eyes, nose and mouth. These can be painted.
Shields were made in a great variety of sizes and shapes. Some only a few inches long were carried in dance rituals and were merely symbols of their original use. Using a paper plate staple a strip of strong paper to the back and staple on each side of the plate. The child will insert a hand into the back of the plate and the paper will keep the shield in place. Let the children decorate the plate. Color and glue on cut up wallpaper pieces, sequins, yarn, etc.
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Kofis look like a pillbox hat and are a traditional headdress for celebrations. Use dark construction paper 24″x2″ for the headband. Cut 6 strips 12″ long by 2″ wide. Arrange strips like a wheel, overlapping in the center. Staple the center or use a brad (paper fastener).
A Calabash is a bowl made from dried gourds. We make papier-mâché to create our bowls. I turn over a small foam bowl with a piece of plastic wrap taped over it. let the children lay strips of newspaper that have been dipped in glue over the bowls. Do more then one layer. When dry, remove and cut them into a circle or bowl shape.
Poster board or oak tag, dark in color, 5″ X 10″, Yarn, gimp 3′ long, Aluminum foil, 3″x4″, pencil, glue tape, scissors and hole punch. Fold board in half, Open it and draw a 2″x3″ box in the middle of top half. Cut up and around 3 sides, leaving bottom edge attached for a flap. Push flap through to other side and glue or tape foil to cover inside opening. Fold the poster board closed. With edges closed. Punch holes through both layers on three sides, but not folded one. Sew up the edges, even the ends and tie around the back of your neck. Glue on decorations. The Wodaabe place decorations in rows. The Wodaaabe people of Niger wear leather mirror pouches decorated with cowrie shells, beads, and copper, and more, around their necks.
For centuries many tribes have used rainsticks to summon the rain. Let the children fill paper towel rolls with rice, beans etc. Cover the ends with a small circle of poster board and masking tape. Let the children paint. SAVE THOSE PAPER TOWEL ROLLS! Let the kids hammer in roofing nails all over the tube. Experiment with the sound of different amounts of rice. When you like the sound, tape up the other end. Let the children paint a stripe horizontally until each child did one.
Africa probably has the largest variety of drums to be found in any continent, but virtually every other type of musical instrument is also represented throughout Africa. Of the drums, the most characteristically African are those known as “talking drums” because they can reproduce the tonal inflections and rhythms of African languages.
I use a pot turned upside down and a wooden spoon. Let the children tap out a drumbeat. Tell them that the drums were used to send important messages. Then ask the kids to tell you what they said on the drum. Set out a variety of objects for the children to use as drums. Oatmeal boxes and coffee cans with plastic lids can serve as hand drums. For larger drums place objects such as wastebaskets, ice cream buckets and cardboard boxes upside down on the floor. Let the children experiment with the drums and talk about the different sounds they make. Which ones are the best for making a sound like falling rain? Which ones are best for making the sound of elephants stomping? Tap out rhythms for the children to repeat.
The African people go about their daily business w/pots of water, food, blankets, etc. on top of their heads. The African women go about their daily business w/their children in a sling on their back.
Games and Activities
Have children stand in a large circle and pretend to be zebras. Draw from one to five pairs of index cards. Have children stand in a circle. Choose one child to make a funny movement and have the others try to imitate him/her. Teacher calls out to the group.
It’s a fun game played with seeds or stones. You can play it with you children, using an egg carton and buttons or beans. Cut the lid off an egg carton and save bottom portion for the game. Paint all pieces with acrylic paints inside and out. Let dry, then cut a 6 by 18 inch of cardboard or poster board. Center the egg carton on the sheet, place a collection box at each end and glue the cartons in place. Decorate. (use two baskets at each side of the egg carton and not bother with gluing onto cardboard.
To play: Sit across from your opponent and place game between the two of you so that your collection box is to your right and your opponent’s box is to your left. Fill each egg-carton bin with four tokens such as buttons, beans or glass blobs. The youngest player can go first. Play begins by picking up all tokens in any one bin on your side of the game, which is the row facing you. Place a token in the bin to the right of the empty bin and continue dropping tokens one by one counterclockwise. If you reach your collection box, drop a token in the box and continue to your opponent’s side until all tokens in your hand are distributed. Do not drop a token in your opponent’s box. Gain an extra turn when the last token lands in your box. If the last token lands in an empty bin on your side of the game, take all of your opponent’s tokens from his bin opposite that empty bin. Your opponent resumes play. When bins from one side of the game are empty, the game stops.
In this game, girls sing and act out chores of Kikuyu women. Players form two lines facing each other. The first line steps forward, singing “This is the way we chop our wood, here in the land of Kikuyu.” As they sing, they make rhythmic motions as though cutting wood. When they finish, they step back. The other line steps forward, singing, “This is the way we build our fire, here in the land of Kikuyu,” stooping to lay wood and blow on an imaginary fire.
Though mainly agricultural people, at times Kikuyu men hunted wildlife that attacked their livestock or crops. In this imaginary hunt, Kikuyu boys practice their skills. Boys divide in two teams, choose a leader and find a playing ground with bushes. The leader chants words like: “May the skin of the leopard that took goats from the flock be punctured by the spears and arrows of these warriors. The leader throws a sprig of leaves between the teams, and the boys thrust their spears into the ground around it, also chanting. At the end, the leader snarls like a cornered leopard.
Food and Treats
Sweet, flaky pastry is filled with a smooth custard. As the name suggests, this recipe requires a lot of milk (at least 4 cups). It will be a great experience for your little one to see how the liquid filling magically turns into a custard. Get a premade pie shell or graham cracker crust to take a shortcut.
This yummy treat is often found as street food in South Africa. It can be filled with things ranging from cheese to meat to tuna and mayo to syrup.
Let the children enjoy this fun snack, which combines two favorite African foods- bananas and peanuts(groundnuts). Make a mixture of finely chopped or grated peanuts, wheat germ and cinnamon. Place small amounts of the mixture on paper plates and give each child one half of an unpeeled banana. To eat, have the children gradually peel their bananas and dip them into the nut mixture before taking each bite.
Additional Activities
- Read South African Folktales together. Try searching for South African Folktales for Kids. We suggest you preread these folktales before deciding which ones to use with your little learners.
- Sing some South African nursery rhymes and include hand movements. To start, try “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (Mbube).
- Cut out different shapes and hide them around the room. Using cardboard tube binoculars, go on a shape safari to find and name the shapes. You can have your little ones collect the shapes as they go so they can count how many of each shape they found.
- Use 2 cups flour,1 cup salt and small amt. of water to make a dough. Knead the dough. Have the children make circles and square shapes. Stick a small toothpick into the clay to make the hole. Bake in oven at 225 degrees for 1 hour. Once cool let the children use markers to decorate them. Then let the children string them into a necklace.
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