Country Week

We learned about different countries of the world this week. I took the kids to the library to pick out books about a country they each wanted to learn about. Ellie chose Russia, Katie chose Australia, and Anthony chose Madagascar. 

First, we finished up our globe we painted by adding the continents each kid colored. 

Then, we demonstrated that we live in a city, which is in a state, which is in a country, which is in a continent, which is on earth, by using nesting boxes. 

We made the flags of our countries and wrote facts we learned about them after reading our library books. 

I had to do the writing for my not-yet-literate kids, but Ellie did a great job all on her own. 

Throughout the week, we did a weird but fun mashup of activities from each country:

Fairy bread from Australia for breakfast. 

Dancing to Russian ballet music. 

Weaving paper "rugs" like Malagasi people weave with rattan. 

Making coco bonbons from Madagascar. 

Playing with Russian nesting dolls...

And making our own paper nesting dolls.

We had a Russian tea party, and we ate treats we made from each of the 3 countries (fairy bread, coco bonbons, and sushkis). Our neighbor joined us. 

I found an origami pattern for boomerangs that really do come back after throwing, and those were fun.

We also made our own version of Faberge eggs with plastic easter eggs, sequins, and rhinestones. 

We colored some Russian architecture.

The week ended at the zoo. I printed some "passports" for the kids, and we went on a search for one animal from each continent and one animal from their chosen countries. Russia was a bit tough, but they enjoyed writing and/or drawing the animals they found in their books.

Lastly, when I was in first grade, I had a Russian pen-pal. I found some of her letters that I had kept and shared them with Ellie. She was fascinated!

Country week was a good one! We'll be revisiting the theme, with some changes, for the Olympics in a few weeks!