Cultural Exchange...South Africa!!!

The girls received their cultural exchange package from South Africa at the beginning of the month, and we've had a great time learning about South Africa so far!  Here's what was in the package...

handmade finger puppets of the Big 5 animals of South Africa...love them!




A couple of postcards




Photocopied (1 side only) and laminated money.  This is one of our favorite things...the money is really beautiful!




Coins




A tiny wooden elephant and bowl...LOVE this!




a Christmas ornament




 a magnet




mini South African flags.  The girls were excited to have more flags for their mini American girls.




Wire animals...E(2)'s favorite!




Activity sheets




We've really enjoyed this wonderful cultural exchange package.  I don't have a picture of the letter since I don't want to put pics of children other than my own on the blog, but the letter was fantastic.  O(5) said that the letter is the best part of the package!  Thanks to our South African friends!!!

Also, I'd love to hear from everyone who participated in the cultural exchange.  Please leave a comment or email me to let me know if you received your packages and how you liked them.  I'd love it if you would leave a link to any blog posts about the exchange especially if  you have pics of the things you sent and received in your packages.  I've had lots of emails asking what kinds of things were included in the packages, so this could help a lot of people.  I'll be organizing another exchange soon, so if you are interested in participating stay tuned....

Chicken, Broccolli, and Cheese Empanadas...Argentina!

The girls and I made empanadas during our monthlong of studying Argentina.  All of the recipes that I saw for empanadas contained red meat, but since we don't eat red meat, we substituted chicken.  I took the easy way out and used an already prepared pie crust instead of making our own crust.  The girls really enjoyed rolling out the crust and helping with all of the steps in making the empanadas, and we were all covered in flour by the time we finished making them.  The empanadas were a hit!

Baked Plantains...Argentina!

When I was googling recipes from Argentina, I came across one for baked plantains.   O(5) loves plantains, so she was very excited to help make them.  She helped peel and slice the plantains.  We spread them on a baking sheet and sprayed them with olive oil cooking spray.  Here's the recipe.



E(2) didn't like the plantains, but O loved them.  Later in the week, I sauteed the plantains in olive oil and they were terrible.  I think we'll stick with baked from now on!

Map and Globe Study...Argentina!

The girls and I spent some time learning about Argentina using our Smart Globe.  We found Argentina on the globe and listened to the national anthem.  We listened to the basic facts and historical facts.








While O(5) and I were learning using the SmartGlobe, E(2) was building Argentina with her blocks!  She kept saying "This is Argentina!"  She has really enjoyed our study of Argentina much more than I expected.  When we went out of town for the weekend, she asked "Are we going to Argentina?"



After we finished using our globe, we all cuddled together on the couch with the ipad and fingerwalked using google earth from our house to Argentina.  It was fun to discuss our path, and O said we were definitely stopping in Costa Rica to see our friends!  We then looked at pics of Argentina on the ipad.  The girls LOVED the pics of the glaciers and waterfalls.  E is determined that she is going to slide down Iguazu Falls.  She says "I"m going to go under the fence and slide down it!"  O says she's taking a frisbee to throw at the falls to see what happens, and then she taking a second frisbee to sit on so she can slide down the falls!  Silly girls!  

Argentinean Lentil Stew and Chipas

The girls and I have cooked several Argentinean foods lately, and we've really enjoyed it!  I don't love to cook, so our study of Argentina has been a good motivator for me.  It has also motivated me to include the girls in meal preparation more often (which they have loved).

Last week, we made Argentinean Lentil Stew.  I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com.  The girls didn't love the stew, but they ate it.  O(5) loved peeling and helping cut the carrot.  She also helped cut the apple.

We also made Chipas (Argentinean Cheese Bread), which they LOVED!  O(5) said that kneading the dough was more fun than playing with playdough!

The girls loved mixing in all of the ingredients.  I'm guessing that I should have melted the butter, but I usually don't think of things like that until it's too late.




Kneading the dough is SO much fun!




They REALLY loved rolling the dough into golf ball sized balls.



Deeeelicious!

Maps and Money...Argentina!

O(5) didn't feel well on Tuesday, so she stayed home from school and dance class.  This gave us lots more time to study Argentina!

We looked at our American flag and the Argentinean flag and talked about how they are both similar and different.  E(2) really enjoyed playing with the flags, and I loved hearing her talk to herself as she played.  She said "This flag American flag and this is Argentina flag."



After we talked about the flags for a while and read an excerpt from a library book telling us about the Argentinean flag, the girls colored pictures of the flag (printed from Activity Village).



They both really enjoyed coloring the flag.



Then E decided to cut her flag.  She's very into cutting lately.



O(5) was proud of her finished flag.



In addition to studying the flag, we also had fun looking at the Argentinean coins and bills.  O put the bills in order.



We all really like the coins with the sun on them.



We compared/contrasted American coins to Argentinean coins and did a few coin rubbings with crayons.



We looked at the sun on the flag and on the coins.



They sorted the American money from the Argentinean money.



The girls love their stickers that Maria Elena included in the package!



E(2) brought this to me and said "I made this just for you. It's a baby. Where's the tape so I can tape it to your furniture?"



They also love the heart magnets.  They divided them up, and then decorated the refrigerator.











It was another fun day at our house!  We are all really loving these cultural exchange packages, and I hope to continue coordinating these exchanges throughout our homeschooling years.  This is just such an amazing experience and such a fun way to learn about other countries and cultures.