African Safari

We continued our journey into the African Savannah...We beaded necklaces in the tradition of the Maasai, a semi-nomadic people who live in Kenya and northern Tanzania. 

We read about an elephant named Elmer.  

He didn't like being different. He wanted to be like all of the other elephants in the Savannah. He discovered that being different wasn't so bad after all. In fact, it was nice to be special. We talked about what makes us special and then using sponges, we decorated elephant shapes...each one special. 

We sang to the tune of "Five Little Ducks";

One elephant went out to play,

Upon a spider web one day.

He (She) had such enormous fun,

He (She) called for another elephant to come.

As we sang, we crawled through a spider web in our play yard, and took turns inviting the other "elephants" to join us. 

We continued to work for Wildlife Animal Rescue...

We met quite a few animals in the book, Giraffes Can't Dance. All of the other African animals are great dancers at the Jungle Dance. Poor giraffe. He can't dance. Or at least he doesn't think he can. What he finds out from a very wise cricket, is that he can dance if he dances to his own music. Each of us, by ourselves or in a group, chose an African animal and our own music to create a unique dance. We had a great time performing and a great time watching. We even taught the others our special dances. We had so much fun, we formed new groups and did it again.   

We went on a "Lion Hunt" after reading, Going on a Lion Hunt,

 and then using water colors, we made our own maps of our hunt. It took us through tall, tall grass, mud, rivers and lakes, sticks, trees and last of all, a cave where we encountered a lion.

After reading Give Up, Gecko,

 we headed out on our safari decked out with safari hats and binoculars. 

We looked for elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, gorillas and lions. We had to count and tally them.

How did the zebra get its stripes. One theory was presented in the book, Greedy Zebra.

We made zebra bracelets using the black and white stripes zebra has (instead of a beautiful black coat) because he was so greedy.

GO ZEBRAS!

We had such a great time on our safari through Africa. We will certainly go back again someday.