Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 24 The Call of Africa

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 24

The Call of Africa

There probably is a longing in all of us to go to Africa some day. Whether it is because of its deep history as the cradle of humankind and vibrant cultures with over 2000 languages, the image of the sun setting on the vastness of the land or its iconic wildlife which every child knows about - we are all fascinated by Africa. 

The Pre-Kindergarten children love elephants as much as I do (my favourite animal beside dolphins) so after looking into Farm, Hawaiian and Arctic animals, this week they learnt more about this gentle giant, the rest of South Africa's big five and many more interesting animals. And we had the great luck to have a fantastic guest speaker in class on Friday, so stay tuned until the end of the blog !

On Monday, the children revisited our book with maps (Riesenatlas) to find Africa and they also viewed a map of the country surrounded by images of its famous wildlife. 

Ms.Nini had organized a multitude of activities for the children to learn more about African animals: First she showed pictures with some of the animals’ features and the children much enjoyed the quiz and the matching activity.

Then she provided cut outs of the shadows and the Pre-Kindergarten children proved that they had become very proficient at recognizing shapes in their first unit. Bravo !

Next was a wonderful shadow play with our animal figurines. The children watched in awe each time a new shadow appeared and learnt that the size changes with the distance from the light source into bigger and smaller. Another exciting STEM discovery! Thank you, Ms.Nini, for these fabulous ideas ! 

Cutting is another skill where the Pre-Kindergarten children are getting better at and the beloved elephant was soon created using eye-hand coordination and glue. Now the elephants live on our classroom display board and are waiting for food ! 

Our clever children will soon make some paper fruits for them and some tall trees for the giraffes. Oh yes, let’s not forget the giraffes, which were also cut out after putting dots as their fur patterns. It was interesting to see that the children chose the colours of their dots very individually showing their imagination and creativity !

Having learnt the names and shapes of various African animals, the children then looked at their different feet or paws. Africa features a wide range of terrain with grassy land, muddy areas and sand. What kind of trail would an elephant leave in mud ? Can we still see a giraffe's hoof print (Spoor in Afrikaans and Spur in German) in sand after a while ?

The Pre-Kindergarten children took these questions and tested different animal figurines in thick mud aka playdough and sand and found out that a track disappears easily in sandy terrain when wiped out by hands (or the wind in nature). Being true inquirers they also discovered different sizes of tracks made by big or small versions of the same animals. Great discoveries and a lot learnt!

For Friday afternoon, we had invited Ms.Schelin , the K2 homeroom teacher as a guest speaker as she is very knowledgeable about Africa and its wildlife, because she was born there and has seen the animals with her own eyes!

Ms.Schelin brought with her a multitude of beautiful photos which she had taken and also amazing stories !

The Pre-Kindergarten children and teachers listened enthralled, were fascinated by the photos and learnt about so many new species who call Africa their home. Soon the children interacted and showed Ms.Schelin the corresponding animal figurines and puppets. The teachers imagined the adventure of camping out in the savanna, sitting by the fire and listening to the roar of wild lions.

Please Ms.Schelin, take us there and in the meanwhile, thank you so very much for your educating and entertaining photo presentation and for sharing anecdotes of your life in Africa. We were grateful and honoured to have you with us ! Dankie, Ashley !

We still have all the fabulous photos in our classroom for you to see and for all of us, who dream about Africa, I would like to end this blog with a poem:

The Call of Africa by C.Emily Dibb

Wishing you a roaring weekend,

With warm regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher