Adley and I have both enjoyed our country learning activities so much that we decided to keep the fun going. Here are the next two countries we "visited."
BRAZIL
The Brazilian flag was an easy one to make out of construction paper. I was impressed with Adley's ability to cut in a circular shape.
Here are the books that we read during our study of Brazil. The Bella and Harry book about Rio was definitely Adley's favorite. She picked up so many facts about Brazil without even realizing it. It's such a great series! The Sock Thief was also a cute story about a poor Brazilian boy who borrowed neighbors' socks to make a soccer ball.
Adley worked a little on this I Spy page, hunting for various Brazilian symbols. The large page with so many small pictures was a bit tedious for her, so she didn't finish the entire thing. It was a fun idea that she enjoyed for a little while, at least!
One aspect of Brazilian culture that we talked quite a bit about was the Carnival Festival. Adley used coffee filters to make fancy skirts for Brazilian samba dancers.
We glued felt pieces together to make the rest of the dancers' outfits...
and with a little marker and yarn... ta-da! Our fun dancers were ready!
Next Adley made Carnival masks. I loved how these turned out!
Then, we decided to get some exercise, Brazilian style! We played a bit of futbol outside...
and then learned how to dance the Samba Shake. This was a super cute video specifically designed for preschoolers, so Adley caught on very quickly. We liked listening to the Brazilian music in the background.
We had to include a look at rainforests in our study of Brazil. Playing this Rainforest Bingo game helped Adley learn the names of various rainforest animals.
We even acted out some of the animals. Adley made a pretty good howler monkey imitation!
Then, we did a couple rainforest animal crafts-- first, an anaconda...
... and then a mackaw. So colorful!
We also talked about all of the tree frogs that live in the rainforest. Adley helped me fold a few origami frogs that we could use for some fun activities. We had frog races,
frog jumping contests from one lilypad to another,
and (Adley's idea) frogs jumping along a rainbow. :)
Brazil had some very tasty new foods for us to try. The main course for our Brazilian food night was feijoada--an instant pot dish of pork, sausage and black beans over rice. We also had Brazilian cheese bread (so tasty and enjoyed by all!),
Brazilian lemonade (made with limes and condensed milk),
and brigadeiros for dessert. These chocolate truffle-like treats didn't harden up as much as they should have, but their flavor was still tasty. Adley liked helping with this recipe.
Our last Brazilian activity was watching the movie Rio. It was so cool when Adley was able to identify the Christ the Redeemer statue in the movie. I love seeing how much she's absorbing through our learning. And that's a wrap for Brazil! Adeus!
JAPAN
Next up, Adley and I visited Japan. I'm trying to select countries from a variety of continents, so we were due for an Asain country. Making the Japanese flag was a cinch.
Adley then used watercolor and tempera to paint a cherry blossom picture. She thought these plants were so pretty.
Japan is another country featured in goplaceswithkids.com, so we enjoyed playing another matching game from this website, this time with Japanese symbols.
Another day, Adley decorated her own Japanese fan...
and a kimono as well!
It was fun to bring in a few science demonstrations for Japan. First, we made a model skyscraper,
and then simulated an earthquake.
Our second science activity was making a volcano. Adley created a quite striking picture of Mt. Fuji.
Then, we watched a few volcanic eruptions on youtube and did a very basic volcano demonstration of our own.
Youtube had some fun beginning karate lessons for Adley to try out. I love watching her get into these online videos!
Our next craft was making Japanese flying carp, a common decoration flown on the Japanese holiday of Children's Day. Adley thought painting with mod podge was SO cool!
Finally, we tried our hand at origami. The most basic pattern we found was for these origami dogs. Adley still needed some guidance but handled these okay.
After listening to a story about Sadako and the Paper Cranes online, we tried to make our own paper cranes. Even Mommy struggled with this pattern! Thankfully they ended up looking somewhat like cranes.
To celebrate our learning of Japan, the whole family ate out at a Japanese hibachi grill. Our kids had never had this experience before and thought it was just great! We also learned that the kids love edamame.
Our chef was so fun! He was wonderful at capturing the kids' interest and making them laugh. What a memorable experience!
Here are a few of the books Adley and I read about the Japanese culture.
What a great time in Japan!
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