Continuing on the Africa theme, we celebrated the African Arts Festival that's going on in our community this month and next at storytime today. I kept it simple with books about African animals, a felt board showcasing a fun book about a boy in an African village and his exceptional chicken, and a song from Swaziland :)
Here's what we read:

Hidden Hippo by Joan Gannij; Ills. by Clare Beaton

Counting Chickens by Polly Alakija

Simms Taback's Safari Animals by Simms Taback

Hidden Hippo is a nice book for storytime, but take this one home sometime because on each page there are hidden hippos and it's super fun for little ones to search them out! We saw a lot of African animals in Hidden Hippo. I think I've mentioned how much I love Clare Beaton's embroidered felt illustrations before ; ) They always inspire me to create felt pieces of my own!

For Counting Chickens I created a simple felt board for the seven eggs and chicks. Believe me, if I tried to make felt pieces of all the animals in this book, they wouldn't fit on our felt board ; ) But, that's what makes this a great counting book. Not only do you get a book about a quintessential African village - so colorful and lively - but your young ones can count to their heart's content ; ) (or at least as far as they are able, probably!) I just love this book.

Finally, Simms Taback's Safari Animals was no match for our preschoolers! They were shouting out the names of the animals under the flaps before I even lifted any! (Flaps, that is...; )

Today I taught our attendees part of a favorite African call and response song shared with me by a colleague. Sobonana Kusasa is a song from Swaziland that basically means "We will meet again." There are many simple and fun songs from Africa and other countries and you can find some here at Mama Lisa's World of Children and International Culture. Here's our song:

Sobonana Kusasa

(Call and response song from Swaziland means: We will meet again J)

Me: Sobonana kusasa

You: Sobonana kusasa

Me: Sobonana kusasa

You: Sobonana kusasa

Sobo (sobo) nana (nana)

kuuuuuuu sasa! (sasa)

Me: Sobonana kusasa ch, ch, ch

You: Sobonana kusasa ch, ch, ch

Me: Sobonana kusasa ch, ch, ch

You: Sobonana kusasa ch, ch, ch

Sobo! (sobo) nana! (nana)

Kuuuuuuu sasa (sasa)!

You guys did great with it today! I think the rhythm sticks would've been fun, but I was afraid they'd drown out the melody, so we used colorful scarves today. But if there's one word that describes African culture to me it's colorful :) Here's a link to a Youtube for the melody I used: Sobonana Kusasa. Check out some other renditions when you have time.

For more children's songs about African animals check out the post for Family Storytime: AFRICA! We did those songs today, too :)

Gotta head out, but see you next time!

Miss Kelly

P.S. Don't forget the books!

Booklist:

• Counting Chickens by Polly Alakija
• We’re Going on a Lion Hunt by David Axtell
• One Day on Our Blue Planet: The Savannah by Ella Bailey
• One Child One Seed: A South African Counting Book by Kathryn Cave; Photos by Gisele Wulfsohn
• Honey…Honey…Lion! by Jan Brett
• Rain by Manya Stijic
• Elsina’s Clouds by Jeanette Winter
• We All Went on Safari by Laurie Krebs; Ills. by Julia Cairns
• A Triangle for Adora and A is For Africa by Ifeoma Onyefulu
• Mama Panya’s Pancakes by Mary and Rich Chamberlin; Ills. by Julia Cairns
• The African Orchestra by Wendy Hartmann; Ills. by Joan Rankin
• Simms Taback’s Safari Animals by Simms Taback
• Hidden Hippo by Joan Gannij, Ills. by Clare Beaton
• Ziggy the Zebra by Libby Ellis, Ills. by Salina Yoon
• My Elephant by Petr Horacek
• No Matter What by Emma Dodd
• Welcome to Zanzibar Road by Niki Daly
• ABC Safari by Karen Lee
• We All Went On Safari by Laurie Krebs, Ills. by Julia Cairns
• *Big Little Hippo by Valorie Gorbachev
• Kidogo by Anik McGrory
• The Water Princess by Susan Verde; Ills. by Peter H. Reynolds
• Thirsty, Thirsty Elephants by Sandra Markle; Ills. by Fabricio VandenBroeck
• Goal! by Mina Javaherbin; Ills. by A.G. Ford
• I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite; Ills. by Baba Wague Diakite
• The Song for Six Birds by Rene Deetlefs; Ills. by Lyn Gilbert
• Where’s Jamela? by Niki Daly
• Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunnane & Hoda Hadadi
• African Alphabet and others by Eric Walters
• Nonfiction picks
  • Grandma Elephant’s In Charge by Martin Jenkins; Ills. by Ivan Bates J 599.67 Jenkins
  • One Plastic Bag: Isatou Seesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul; Ills. by Elizabeth Zunan J 363.72 Paul
  • African Critters by Robert B, Haas J 591.96 Haas
  • Safari by Gail Tuchman ER Tuchman
  • Anansi and the Talking Melon and other fables by Eric A. Kimmel J 398 Kimmel