Around the World Part I

 When Adley completed her last set of letter-learning activities this spring, she asked, "What are we going to learn about next, Mommy?" Honestly, I hadn't even considered doing another learning unit with Adley, but her enthusiasm motivated me! After some brainstorming, I decided that Adley and I could study various countries and cultures together. 

I started by hanging a world map in our kitchen and creating this travel book for Adley.

FRANCE

I found a really great website (goplaceswithkids.com) that became my inspiration for the first few countries Adley and I studied. The activities on this website are perfect for preschool aged kids. Adley and I learned about France first. We found where France was on our world map and then filled out this intro page for her travel binder. Her favorite part was finding the correct flag sticker from a large pack of world flag stickers I purchased online.

Then, we watched a short youtube video that gave some basic information about France. Over the next few days, we read some library books set in France. In addition to these two pictured, we also read Madeline, a Bella and Harry book about Paris (a cute series which features two little chihuahuas who travel to various cities around the world--Adley loved it!), and a couple of informational picture books about France.

Adley's next activity was painting the French flag.

Then, she made a 3D Eiffel tower model.

We also played a matching game with various landmarks or symbols from France (the country outline, the flag, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, a macaron, a baguette, etc). Adley and I would say the name of each picture as she turned it over, so it was a fun way to reinforce her learning.

Another day, Adley did a second Eiffel Tower craft. This negative space picture didn't look quite as authentic (since Mommy struggled a bit with my freehand masking tape skills!), but Adley was very impressed when the paint dried and her Eiffel Tower picture was revealed.

She also made this really impressive stained glass window patterned after the Notre Dame Rose window. It turned out so pretty!

Our last project involved an old French tradition dating back to 1564. Apparently every year on April 1st, French schoolchildren used to stick paper fish to the backs of as many adults as possible. The schoolchildren would run away yelling "poisson d'avril," or April Fish. I'm not sure whether or not this practical joke is still an active tradition, but it sure looked fun to try! Adley had a blast making her own fish and then sneaking up behind Mommy and Daddy's backs to give us the fish.

We capped off our learning by trying some French cuisine. I was originally going to make only one French dish for the kids to try, but all the recipes I found looked so tasty, it quickly turned into a full-blown French meal. Our meal included chicken fricassee, ratatouille, and a French baguette.

We even listened to some French music in the background (for a little while anyway!) as we ate.

Dessert was our kids' favorite part. We made French crepes filled with strawberries and Nutella...

and also enjoyed some storebought macarons. Yum!!

One last French related activity (not pictured) that we did was to watch a video of the song Frere Jacques and then sing and act out the song ourselves. Adley loved ringing bells in Mommy's face to wake me up. Ha! We loved our adventures "visiting" France!

UGANDA

Our next travel destination was another country featured on the goplaceswithkids website--- Uganda! I knew next to nothing about this African country, so I enjoyed learning facts right alongside Adley. We started by locating Uganda on the map, watching a short video on Uganda, and filling out Adley's travel book page.

Then, we prepared for an African safari! Adley painted her own safari hat...

and binoculars too.

Pretty cute safari girl, isn't she?!

When Adley wasn't watching, I hid clip art images of safari animals all over our house. Adley used her binoculars to search for the animals and then checked the animals off her safari checklist as she found them.

Adley absolutely LOVED this activity and asked to play it multiple times and over the course of several days (which is why you see her in different outfits!). She got really good at identifying the names of each safari animal, some of which were new to her.

She also colored the Ugandan flag, which we learned has an image of the national bird, the grey crowned crane, in the center. It's the only world flag that features a bird.

The goplaceswithkids.com website gave us another fun matching game with Ugandan symbols (like mountain gorillas, lions, matoke bananas, the Nile river, a soccer ball). I loved this fun way to learn about what's popular in Uganda.

One day, we watched and tried out Ugandan dancing! We enjoyed listening to the drum line in the background just as much as we liked seeing the ladies' dance moves.

The recipe we tried out was a Ugandan rolex-- an omelette-like dish wrapped in homemade chapati flatbread. I thought this dish looked very pretty!

Since none of my kids are very fond of normal omelettes, the rolex wasn't their favorite dish. They all gave it a try, though! All of them enjoyed the chapati bread by itself.

The last activity we did was to make magazine beads. Adley needed a bit of guidance before she fully got the hang of rolling the magazine strips. Her favorite part was painting mod-podge on each bead to hold it together and make it shiny

When all her beads were dry, Adley strung them into a necklace. What a fun process, and what a beautiful finished product!

Here are some wonderful books we read that taught us about the Ugandan culture.

Another fun journey!