Activities

Try our home-made activity, Straw Fancy! Created by members of our very own team, this activity promotes creativity and critical thinking. Try it yourself!



Egypt

Make Your Own Mummy

Materials

  • Old sheet
  • Pillow case
  • Elastics
  • Lots of toilet paper

Instructions

  1. Layout the sheet on the floor.
  2. Each corner of the sheet will become an arm or a leg. Bunch the sheet together to create each limb. Use elastics to keep the shape.
  3. Create a head with the pillow case by stuffing it. Use elastics to attach the head to the body.
  4. Start wrapping the toilet paper around the mummy. Work your way down and back each limb. Then your mummy will be complete!

France

Escargot

A French variation of hop scotch, except the board is in the shape of a giant snail! Players claim spaces on the board by initialing them with chalk. Those spaces then become property of the player that initialed it and the other players must hop over.

Parents: Help your child(ren) draw a snail shape on the sidewalk about 6 feet in diameter. Divide it into fifteen to twenty boxes.

The player must hop on one foot to the center of the snail where he can stand and out again without stepping on a line or setting down the other foot. After doing this, the player can pick one box to initial as his territory. Opposing players must then jump over her territory while she can use it as an additional resting spot for her turns. Each player who completes a successful trip in and out of the snail gets to claim any free box. If the player steps on a line or sets her foot down, play passes to the next in line and she does not claim a box. The game continues until it is impossible for anyone to hop into the center space or until all spaces have someone’s initials in them. The winner is the player with the most spaces.

The Rubber Band

A large rubber band is needed. Two people must hold this rubber band with their isolated legs. A third nobody jumps in the medium without going above if not it loses. There are many figures to carry out with the play of the rubber band: Alphabet, Coke, etc.

1 2 3 Soleil

One kid is facing the wall and counting 1, 2, 3 soleil (sun) and then turn around to watch other kids that are supposed to run and just freeze as the first kid turns around to look at them. The first kid that touches the wall wins and takes the place and counts.

Italy

The Witch

The Witch is a traditional Italian children’s game that is very useful in building vocabulary in younger children. Divide the players into two equal teams and give each one a flashcard showing a number, animal, action, or anything else they wish to practice. The players stand in two parallel lines with some space in between them and each player has the same flashcard as the opposite player. The instructor stands in the middle holding out a handkerchief or scarf and randomly calls one of the words on the cards (Horse! Thirteen! Running! Etc.) the two players with the same card have to race to the center and try to grab the handkerchief. The one who gets it scores a point for their team!

Make Your Own Pasta String Necklace

Materials

  • String
  • Pasta (Penne works best)
  • Glue
  • Glitter

Instructions

  1. Take the desired amount of pasta and decorate as desired.
  2. Let dry.
  3. Place the pieces on string, leaving enough to make a knot.
  4. Once tied, its ready to wear!

Greece

Flees

Flees is a game that everyone can play. You need a ball and 5 kids or more to play. The rules are the following:

All the kids stand in, make a circle except one that stands in the center. He/she throws the ball in the air and says loud the name of a kid in the circle. The kid that hears his/her name must catch the ball. The other children scatter all over the place. The boy that catches the ball counts to three. Then all the children must stop running. The boy tries to hit them with the ball. If the boy with the ball does hit someone, he/she has a flee. If a child has 5 flees, he/she is out of the game.

Japan

Mr. Daruma Fell Down (A Japanese Game of Tag)

Mr. Daruma Fell Down is well-known as a nice game for Japanese children. It is a very simple game; however, everyone gets excited playing it. Children can play it outside when there are five or six friends.

First, the person who is 'it' (the tagger) yells to other children, "Mr. Daruma fell down!" When the tagger yells, the other children run as far away as possible. Then he turns his back to them. Next he calls out again, "Mr. Daruma fell down!" After that, he turns around and looks for the other children because he has to catch them.

When a child moves and is caught, he has to go to jail. The other children have to get close to the tagger and hit his back; however, they cannot move when the tagger looks at them.

Therefore, they have to run as fast as possible while the tagger's back is turned and he is yelling, "Mr. Daruma fell down!" Whenever a child hits the tagger's back, other children can escape from the jail.

When the tagger catches all but one child, the game is almost over. In that part, the tagger is given many chances to catch the child because he can yell quickly.

When the tagger has tagged everyone, a new game starts. Then, a new tagger is selected by a finger-flashing game. My friends and I used to play this game because it was exciting and we had a lot of time to play outside!

Mexico

Make a sheet like the graph below for each player.

color flower fruit TV show movie total
                       

When each player had their own sheet ready, one of the players starts the game, saying aloud the letters of the alphabet in order—A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on. The player next to this player yells stop when they choose.

When the player yells stop, begin writing a word for each category that begins with the letter that they stopped on. All the players write until the player that yelled stop has finished.

Once the game is over, tally up who wrote down the most words and the person with the most is the winner.

Mexican Bean Bracelets

Materials

  • Roll of toilet paper
  • Construction paper or tinfoil
  • Dried beans
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Instructions

  1. Glue construction paper around your toilet paper roll
  2. Cut paper roll in half to make a cuff (bracelet)
  3. Cut TP as desired height, depending what width you want your bracelet
  4. Glue beans onto bracelet. You can also add glitter and stickers
  5. Optional: paint some of the beans different colors to give the illusion of jewels
  6. Let dry and Wear!

Caribbean

Hand Ball

This game bears just some similarity to league Baseball games played in the US but the hands are used in place of a bat. e game is played with any amount of players and one pitcher.

The ball is usually a newspaper stuffed 1-pint juice rounded off at the four corners. The bases are any immovable object, such as trees, building, a rock stone on the ground or just a visibly marked spot on the ground.

The Batters are stand in a line. The Pitcher is standing any distance between 5ft to 8ft from first Batter. There are about 3 or 4 infielders who work for the Pitcher.

The Batter throws the ball up in the air and gives it a hefty wack with palm of hand. Once as the ball is out of the Batter's hand, the batter then races to the 1st ... 2nd ... 3rd ... 4th and more bases before making it back to home base (which is the lineup of Batters).

The Pitcher and Infielders make a rush to grab the ball after the Batter hits it his/her hand and pitching/throwing it at the Batter. If the ball hits the Batter before s/he reaches a base, then s/he the Batter is out of the game.

Handball is a team game as the Batters are all on one team and the Pitcher and his Infielders are the other team.

Make Your Own Coconut Tree

Materials

  • Paper
  • Printer
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Crayons
  • Construction paper cut into 2" squares

Directions

  1. Print out Coconut Tree Template or make your own
  2. Start by Color the pieces as you see fit and cut them once done.
  3. Glue trunk onto a construction paper.
  4. Glue the leave onto the trunk.
  5. Glue the coconuts onto the leaves.
  6. Cut Construction paper into 2 inch squares( suggestion is for child to write their name on each square)
  7. Glue the letters to the tree to have your own personalized Coconut Tree!

India

Fish Tank Back-Drop: Invite Creativity

If you have a fish bowl or a fish tank at home, you can organise a scenery drawing competition for them and the winner gets to paste his creation at the back of the tank. When viewed from the front, the fish now seems to be swimming against this backdrop.

Dress Up: Assemble Great Memories

You and your kids can play dress-up. Place old discarded clothes in a suitcase and organise a dress-up among your kids, with a prize for the most creatively dressed one. We suggest you be ready with a loaded camera to record your kid’s creativity.