• toys and play: African children, like children the world over, often make their own toys. The ingenious "galimoto" wire toys from West Africa roll and also have an up and down motion. Children try to figure out how that happens!
• dolls: our collection contains dolls from all parts of Africa, made of very different materials, some very sophisticated (a Barbie collection doll from South Africa) and others clearly made by children. The African-American Topsy-Turvy doll tells a story of slavery and the ingenuity of the slave families in preserving their culture.
• masks and ritual: masks of wood, metal and fiber are striking to look at and tell us about the traditional rituals and worship of African peoples.
• nomadic life: what does a broad-brimmed leather and straw hat tell you about the place it comes from? The animal herders who live on the edge of the Sahara must move from place to place, following the rainfall and the grass. What kind of furniture makes sense if you must move from place to place?
• food and work: children help their families to grow and process food. They also take care of their little brothers and sisters. Your students experience a bamboo fish trap, a rice pounder, a baby carrier made of cloth.
• clothing and fabric: kente cloth from Ghana is royal cloth, and each color has a meaning. We have many garments from Africa for children to try on.
• music: a great tradition in Africa and a gift of Africans to the Americas. Drums, kalimbas, balafon and the Afro-Brazilian berimbau (which accompanies the martial art of capoeira) - these are examples of the instruments you can play at Mariposa!

How does a person's environment influence the way they live?
What stories do a culture's artifacts tell about the people who create that culture?
How do people the world over meet similar needs with vastly different materials and standards of living?
How is childhood in other cultures the same as, and different from, childhood in our culture?
How has American culture been enriched by peoples from other cultures?

Close observation of an object (including drawing it) to see how it is made and how it works
Use of observation and imagination to figure out the use of an object and to understand why it is appropriate to its place of origin
Drawing parallels between apparently dissimilar activities/objects (food, clothing, play, work) to see similarities to our own culture
Generalizing from the particular to universal human experience

Students will learn about

• The great range of peoples, languages and environments in Africa
• The different material cultures that have arisen in Africa (nomadic, agricultural, hunting and fishing) in response to different environments
• Spiritual life, as expressed in masks, dance and fabric
• The responsibilities and pleasures of childhood in Africa
• The use of recycled materials to make toys
• Social relationships in Africa: respect for elders and community and king
• Music in Africa and in the African diaspora
• The African-American experience of slavery and resistance