June 13-17 Day 3

Today's continent was Africa so we started with a game of Ampe (jump twice and pick a foot to put out in front of you, if it matches the leader's foot they get a point, if not then you are the leader). Next we talked about the Nile and Egyptians. We looked at pictures of hieroglyphics on temples and talked about how papyrus is made. Then they drew or stamped their name in hieroglyphs on a papyrus bookmark. While talking about the Nile we discussed water pollution in Africa and looked at the SODIS method as well as making our own Bushcraft filter (muslin, charcoal, sand, grass, gravel). It did clear out a lot of the sediment but ofcourse it still would need to be boiled before drinking. Then after snack and play writing, we played Pilolo (a traditional hide and find the stones game from Ghana) at the obstacle course. Next we talked about Kente cloth and its importance to African tribes. I showed a video of how the cloth is made and we made woven pouches. Some explorers were not interested in weaving so they made art using Adinkra symbols (symbols from Ghana that represent aphorisms like "strength", "wisdom", "love", etc. ). I also talked about the the Sahara Desert and its wildlife as well as the Great Rift Valley and Zeer pots. After lunch, we went to the creek and saw a crawfish, frogs, and minnows.