Explore Africa

Recommended for Grades: 1, 2, 3, 4
Share the wealth of Africa’s culture and history with your students. Focusing on West Africa, students will play African instruments, try-on traditional clothing, and immerse themselves in a truly multicultural experience.

Iowa Core |   Pre-visit Materials |   Vocabulary |   Post-visit Activity |   Resources

Iowa Core Essential Concepts

  • Reading: Read for a variety of purposes and across content areas.
  • Reading: Use a variety of strategies and skills to comprehend and interpret fiction.
  • Reading: Use a variety of strategies to develop and expand reading vocabulary.
  • Listening: Listen for information and understanding
  • Listening: Listen for interpretation, analysis, and evaluation
  • Behavioral Sciences: Understand all people have individual traits.
  • Behavioral Sciences: Understand the relationship of the individual to the components of society and culture
  • Geography: Understand how geographic and human characteristics create culture and define regions
  • History: Understand individuals and groups within a society my promote change of the status quo

Pre-visit Materials.

  • Activity Coming Soon
  • Where is Africa? Using a globe or map, show students where Africa is located compared to the United States.

Vocabulary

  • Kente
  • Weave
  • Village
  • Chief

Post-visit Activities

  • Weave a placemat using different colored paper strips.
  • Study spiders—sing songs, read books, and count the legs on a pretend spider.
  • Create a beautiful spider web using black paper, glue, and silver glitter.
  • Borrow the museum’s free “Africa” Traveling Trunk

Suggested Resources

Books
Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott
The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt
Masai and I by Virginal Kroll

Internet
Spider Pintables and Activities: http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/activities.htm
African Children’s Games: http://www.ibike.org/library/africakids.htm