Preschool Culture Study: Jewelry

Africa is an amazingly beautiful continent.  It is so rich in the beauty of its' people, their culture, and the animals and scenery of the land.

It's not every month that you get to go on Safari, but that is just what my preschooler and I are doing through our preschool curriculum from Mother Goose Time.

Last week I shared how to prepare to go on a safari, and this week we ventured into the African Grasslands to get a closer look at the African Culture.

On this particular day, we looked at how native people dress- specifically focusing on jewelry and the beadwork African tribes make and wear.  It is exquisite and the perfect way to teach patterns.

Being inspired by the beautiful beadwork in our photo, my preschooler decided she would make a bracelet. Using a pipe cleaner and pony beads (both provided by MGT) my daughter practiced her math skills.  She created her own pattern, counted the beads in her pattern, then transformed her line of beads into a bracelet.
(Twist a loop at the end of the pipe cleaner, make your pattern, then put the end of pipe cleaner through the loop and twist to close)

Our jewelry session did not end there.

Next, she made and African necklace during our Make and Play activity.

Using paints, a paper plate cut to become a necklace, and qtips, you too can create your own African inspired jewelry.

How can you incorporate beads into reading?

MGT does not disappoint- make word "bead" bracelets!

We read through our I Can Read book, looking for and underlining "-it" words.  

I showed her the "-it" band and told her it said "it" and we would use it to make words.

I then asked my girl, "Avaleigh, can you spell the word "fit"?"

  It was so cute hearing her make the first letter sounds to decide which bead would be placed on her arm.

  It didn't take her long to spell all the "-it" words provided from the paper bead rings,
so I decided to challenge her.
"Avaleigh, what letter would you need to make the word "mit"?"
" Mmmmmm mit.  Mmmmm.... M!"
"That's great!  What about "kit"?"
"Kkkk like kitten.   K!" (I was so surprised that she didn't pick "c"!)
"Wow! Great job sounding that out.  What do you think you would need for the word "quit"?"
"Qqqqq like queen.  Q!"
Even though she didn't say the "u,"
(and I didn't expect her to- if she did I would have dropped to the floor in shock)
I was so impressed that she recognized the "q" sound!

Who knew you could incorporate so much into a day of making jewelry!
Now onto learning about African homes, food, music and migration!

Happy Learning my friends!


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