AFRICA+CREATIVE+PROJECT

=** African Winter Break Project **=

Choose a hands-on project to complete over winter break. The projects are drawn from African art, music, and history and are not ‘primitive’ but rather, celebrate the beauty of using natural resources.

Research a popular African artifact that depicts one of the four more popular themes in hand crafted art and mimic this piece in your own clay design. For your presentation, bring in a picture of the piece that you mimicked and tell the story as to why this image is an important theme to African cultures. A couple A woman and a child A male with a weapon or animal An outsider or "stranger"
 * Clay/Pottery **

The musical instruments created in Africa speak volumes about the culture and celebration of sound. For this activity, you can choose to make one of the following African instruments on your own. The project requires you to follow directions and to decorate your piece with an important theme from Africa. Be sure to research the value and purpose of your instrument for your presentation and look on our Wikispace for help finding directions or materials. African Tambourine African Shaker African Rain Stick African Thumb Piano (Mbira or also called a Kalimba)
 * Musical Instruments **

Research a popular game that has its roots from the continent of Africa and by using strictly the most simple materials, reconstruct the game using wood. Research the rules and history of the game for your presentation and expect that people will want to play right away.
 * Gaming **

For this activity, you can prepare an African dance or song (sing or play) to be performed in class. There are a lot of instructional videos out there both online and on tv, so consider trying something you haven’t done before because this may turn out to be a lot of fun. *Please see me or wiki me for approval for this project
 * African Celebration **

Create a movie/puppet show that tells the fantastic story of a popular African folk tale. This will require thoughtful costumes and some pretty creative thinkers.
 * African Folk Tale **

See me if you have any extra ideas for any of these projects and remember that following directions will always make your task easier.