| Sandra's guide pages |
| Activities for WAGGGS regions Africa Region |
| Games Mancala / Oware Links from my unit page are here - this board-type game for 2 people is popular in large parts of Africa and has many names and variations. Below is "Oware" from the western part of Africa. You need a board with 2 rows of 6 "holes". Each player owns the row nearest them. 1. Put 4 seeds or counters or other playing pieces in each “hole”. 2. Whoever goes first chooses one of the holes in her row, and picks up all the seeds in it, then puts one in the hole anti-clockwise of the one they came from, one anti-clockwise of that and so on (missing out the hole she started from if there are enough seeds to go all the way round). This is called sowing the seeds. 3. If the last seed is sown in your opponent’s row, and there are 2 or 3 seeds in the last hole then you capture the seeds from that hole (and take them off the board). 4. Take turns until one of you has captured 25 seeds – that person is the winner. Chiccago – South Africa Equipment: 5 tins and a tennis ball. Instructions: Balance the tins on top of each other, One person is chosen to begin. She must stand 5 paces away from the tins (as must everyone else) . She then throws the tennis balls at the tins trying to throw them all over. If she fails to knock them all on her first try then she steps one step closer and tries again. If she fails she steps closer and tries again (and so on) . Once all five tins have been knocked over, she must try and hit the other players with the tennis ball while they try and re-stack the tins. She picks up the tennis ball from wherever it comes to rest (or whatever stops it) and from that place throws it to hit the others. The others meanwhile try and re-stack the tins neatly on top of each other. If she succeeds in hitting someone then they become the thrower. If she fails to hit anyone before the tins are stacked, then she throw the tins down again. Ukhelekhele - South Africa 1. Draw 8 squares on the floor, and label each with a category, eg. fruits / towns / vegetables / boys names etc. 2. The first person then throws a stone to land in a square. If for example, it lands in the “boys’ names” square, then she has to hop from square to square on one foot from start to finish, naming boy's names each time she lands. She may not hop in the Boys’ names square. If she hops in the Boys’ names square, or loses her balance and falls, or misses the next square, then it is the next person's chance. 3. If she finishes , then she closes her eyes and walks around until she thinks she is in the square where her stone is, then opens her eyes. If she is correct then boy's names is hers and she has a "house". 4. Then the next person goes – they do the same thing and try to earn a house in another square , but now "boy's names' is out of bounds and she is not allowed to throw her stone on it or land on it when she hops around. 5. When the first person goes for a second time she is allowed to hop in "boys’ names" because she owns it. 6. The winner is the one with the most houses Crafts Bushmen painting Use templates of African animals to draw around, then paint them in bushman style using fingers and twigs. Decorating fabric or clothes Try tie dying, or batik (where you paint a pattern with wax, then dye the material so the painted bit is left blank). Bead jewellery Bead jewellery is very popular in various parts of Africa. Try making some – you could make beads from paper or fruit seeds, or use bought beads. Adrinkra patterns Printed fabrics in Africa often use Adrinka patterns – a collection of symbols, some of which are below along with their meanings. Make something using these patterns – you could try fabric printing to produce some traditional African cloth, or you could make some greetings cards using repeated patterns of one or two of the symbols. The symbols can be found Nutty crafts! If you don't have any allergy problems in your unit, you could make something using peanuts in their shells - peanuts/groundnuts are a major export of west Africa. There are some cool "nut people" around - joggle eyes & cardboard feet type things. Wire craft necklaces http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/net02833/ (crafts/SA crafts) Food Some African recipes can be found on various sites, such as http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Cookbook/Dessert.html (desserts) The site listed above under "wire craft necklaces" http://expedition.bensenville.lib.il.us/Africa/ (listed by country) Or if you want something relatively familiar, try some African fruits like papaya, mangos, pineapple and bananas. Maybe try some of these fruits dried? Or make something (fruit salad, banana bread, pineapple upside down pudding) using some of them. Other activities Campfire songs Here are some songs from or about Africa you could try: • The Birthday Song (the one where you stand up when your month is sung and sit down when it comes round again) is South African. • Cheelo, Cheelo: "Though I'm smaller than the sun, though I'm lighter than the air, yet I sing as I fly, cheeli cheeli cheeli, cheelo cheelo, the world belongs to me". • "Go well and safely" has Zulu origins. • All Night, All Day (Angels watching over me) has African origins • We’re all going on a lion hunt (also known as the bear hunt) • The Elephant - found on GuidingUK.com here. African folk tales to act out or read http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/africa.html Trails and tracking Baden Powell (the founder of the scouts and guides) spent some time “scouting” in Africa. One of the things he got very good at was tracking animals… could you do some tracking? Maybe of each other if it’s muddy or snowy, or you could lay trails if it’s not. Water Many children in Africa have to fetch water for their families from miles away. Try some water carrying activitieies - have a water carrying competition over a short distance – who is fastest, who spills least, or try a small obstacle course! This is part of the World Issues guide interest badge. Countries Members of the Africa region are: * Benin * Botswana * Burkina Faso * Burundi * Cameroon * Central Africa Republic * Chad * Congo * Gambia, The * Ghana * Guinea * Ivory Coast * Kenya * Lesotho * Liberia * Madagascar * Mauritius * Namibia * Nigeria * Rwanda * Senegal * Sierra Leone * South Africa * Swaziland * Tanzania * Togo * Uganda * Zambia * Zimbabwe Africa Region Links My Gambia & South Africa pages |
| Worldwide off site links * Games from http://digilander.libero.it/cfgames2000/xgames.html * Maps to colour in from http://www.enchantedlearning.com * Festivals http://www.oocities.org/colintonguides/lightfestivals.html * Games, activities, region logo clipart http://www.gudinguk.com * General & girl guide / scout info http://coy.ne.client2.attbi.com/ * Uniforms, promise badges, promise and laws http://www.worldguiding.anzagl.com * CIA factbook http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ And of course, don't forget all those off line resources! Like * Trefoil Round the World * World Games and Recipes * Small World, all available from Girlguiding UK trading services. |
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