Unlike my North America post, you'll see DJ wanted to be a part of this photo shoot. For each of the 7 continents, I bought photo boxes in the Montessori colors of the continents. The front name plate has the name of the continent and I cut out the shape of South America on sandpaper and pasted it to the top. Then I added a few fun travel and vacation stickers that I got from a scrapbooking friend.
Also from the Montessori Print Shop South America bundle, I printed
these pictures cards. I don't remember how many there are but there is a
good stack of pictures of people, clothing, food, buildings, etc. It is
this collection of photos that made me want to purchase the set. I can
source images like this from the internet but there are SO many choices
and often without a clear description of what is shown and where it's
from. This set does that work for me.
I bought a pack of toothpick world flags on Amazon. DJ absolutely adores
pinning these into a print out of South America on plain paper. The
world flag set seemed to be very comprehensive until we actually matched
them to a map and discovered they didn't include Guyana, Suriname or
French Guinea. So if you happen to live in any of those countries, I
apologize on behalf of the flag vendor.
For South American money, I purchased a 1 pound lot of world coins but
only 9 of them were from this continent. Fortunately my mother-in-law
had saved some paper money from her travels in Argentina and Paraguay.
Oddly enough, DJ is currently most enamored of this paper money, perhaps
because his parents pay for nearly everything with a credit card.
I also bought a set of world stamps on Amazon. Oddly enough, I ended up
with a bunch from only 4 countries - Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and
Colombia. I'm sensing a very definite lack of representation from Brazil
in this box! But no lack of enthusiasm from DJ!
I found a set of World Landmark cards on a Montessori materials exchange
group and of the 45 cards only 2 are South American. But there is
Brazil with her iconic "Christ Redeemer" statue. These cards have a
picture on one side and the name, description and location on the back.
From the Safari Toobs World Landmarks sets, there is only one for South
America and it's not even on the continent. These famous Moai statues
are found on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), found in the Pacific Ocean west
of Chile.
Again on Amazon, I purchased this little Sticker Paper Doll book
depicting Brazilian clothing styles. The book has 4 costumes to dress
Camina in. As you can see from the photo, each outfit has multiple
choices of hats, shoes and in this case a guitar or doll to hold. DJ was
particularly intrigued with the basket on her head with what looks like
bread in it, or perhaps a pale root vegetable.
There is a Ten Thousand Villages store not far from me. If you are
collecting cultural items and have one near you, you absolutely have to
visit it. The store is full of handmade items from third world countries
and every item you buy comes with a print out describing where it was
made and who made it. This little glass vase was hand-blown from
recycled glass scraps collected from dump yards in Bolivia. I believe it
was $6 and it is tiny so fits perfectly in my box. But you can spend
hundreds of dollars on full size household decorations, jewelry and
more.
If you have done even a cursory search on the culture of South America
you will quickly learn about these mate cups, used for drinking a type
of tea called Yerba Mate. The cups are made from dried gourds and are
decorated some more than others. I bought the red one on the left on
Amazon. It is fairly plain with a simple metal rim, a basic metal straw
and a small plastic scoop. I was disappointed because the description
said it was supposed to come with the tea too but I assume DJ wouldn't
like it anyway. The mate cup on the right was given to me by DJ's Aunt
Kim and you can see it is much more ornate with even the straw having a
metal carving on it.
On a recommendation from Aunt Kim, I also purchased a set of Rosary
Beads to represent the prevalence of Catholicism in South America. It is
scented with the smell of roses so our whole continent box smells quite
pleasant now! I also found it quite curious to learn from the
description on Amazon that this particular Rosary was manufactured in
Jerusalem of all places!
The small pottery jar was a gift from my mother-in-law. She tells the story (if I remember it correctly) that they flew into Argentina to visit young Kim and rented a car to drive from the airport to where she was staying. There was a detour in the road that took them through a small village where a girl was selling these small trinkets. She painted the words "Jujuy" on one side and "Purmamarca" on the other, indicating it is from the village of Purmamarca in the Jujuy province of Argentina.
With all of that, our little photo box is pretty full. But there is so much more NOT in the box!
The small pottery jar was a gift from my mother-in-law. She tells the story (if I remember it correctly) that they flew into Argentina to visit young Kim and rented a car to drive from the airport to where she was staying. There was a detour in the road that took them through a small village where a girl was selling these small trinkets. She painted the words "Jujuy" on one side and "Purmamarca" on the other, indicating it is from the village of Purmamarca in the Jujuy province of Argentina.
With all of that, our little photo box is pretty full. But there is so much more NOT in the box!
Aunt Kim sent these adorable South American dolls all the way from San
Diego. I haven't heard their story from her yet but I'm assuming she
purchased them during her travels in Argentina and Paraguay. I left them
on the shelf the night I brought them home and DJ saw them first thing
the next morning. His face lit up with surprise and glee!
I've written before about my digital version of Montessori art folders. In an effort to avoid it
being typically Eurocentric, I've decided to add famous art from each
continent. For South America, I have this Peruvian Headress from around
700CE, a picture of the Christ Redeemer statue and the Easter Island
Moai, a collection of pictures painted by Anita Malfatti and a couple of
works by Antonio Berni.
Also not in the box is this Melissa & Doug Rainforest puzzle. There
is a lot of things that I love about this puzzle and the fact that it
depicts life in a South American rainforest is definitely one of them.
When most preschool toys depict cars, trains, basic shapes, letters,
domestic animals, farm animals and television characters, I truly
appreciate an opportunity for some diversity.
Speaking of television, DJ and I are still enjoying this series of
Travel with Kids. You can watch it free on Amazon with a Prime
membership. This episode focuses on Peru and specifically Machu Picchu. I
was so enthralled by this show I found myself checking prices for
travel to Peru which is unfortunately way out of our family's price
range. But I do appreciate the chance to live vicariously through this
series.
So that is our South America continent in a box. As with all the continents, it is just a start. Just enough to pique interests, bring up questions and begin to hint and similarities and differences.
Click here to see other continent box posts:
Continent Boxes - North America
Continent Boxes - Asia
So that is our South America continent in a box. As with all the continents, it is just a start. Just enough to pique interests, bring up questions and begin to hint and similarities and differences.
Click here to see other continent box posts:
Continent Boxes - North America
Continent Boxes - Asia
No comments:
Post a Comment