Costa Rica, (Spanish for 'Rich Coast') a Land of Lush Rainforests, Giant Sea Turtles, Tropical Birds, and Rugged Mountain Chains
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Welcome to Costa Rica, (Spanish for 'rich coast') a land of lush rainforests, giant sea turtles, tropical birds, and rugged mountain chains. With 800 miles of coastline of varied terrain, Costa Rica lives up to its name. Costa Rica is small country in Central America. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. The Caribbean Sea is to the east and the Pacific Ocean is to the west. There are two major mountain ranges in the country: the Cordillera Volcanica and the Cordillera de Talamanca. As in many other Central American countries, Costa Rica suffers from occasional volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is the largest cloud forest in Central America. Costa Rica is home to over 2,000 species of trees and 9,000 different kinds of flowering plants. There are over 200 species of reptiles, the majority of which are snakes. There are many brightly coloured toads and frogs, including the poison arrow frog. The country is also home to hundreds of mammals including bats, and insects, such as vibrant butterflies and leaf-cutter ants. Birdwatchers may get a glimpse of the endangered colourful quetzal bird, blue- footed booby bird, scarlet macaw, and toucans. The national flower is the orchid. There are over 1,200 species of orchids in Costa Rica. Family is very important in Costa Rica. Children often live with their families until they are married. Leisure is treasured above work in Costa Rica. While work is necessary to earn a living, Ticos, as Costa Ricans call themselves, believe people should enjoy their lives. 1. Location: Costa Rica is a country in Central America, the Pacific Ocean is to the west and the Caribbean Sea is to the east. 2. Capital: The capital is San Jose. 3. Population: The population of Costa Rica is 4.8 million. 4. People of Costa Rica: Costa Ricans refer to themselves as Ticos (males) or Ticas (females) 5. Language: The language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish. 6. Costa Rica’s Flag: 7. National Tree: The Guanacaste is Costa Rica's national tree. 8. National Bird: Clay-colored thrush is the national bird. 9. National Flower: Guaria morada, an orchid. 10. Currency: The currency used in Costa Rica is the Costa Rican Colone 11. Costa Rica contains more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity even though its landmass only takes up .03% of the planet's surface. There are more than: • 130 species freshwater fish • 850 species of birds • 160 species of amphibians • 1,000 species of butterflies • 208 species of mammals • 1,200 varieties of orchids • 220 species of reptiles • 9,000 species of plants • 34,000 species of insects Morpho Butterfly Craft As it’s common name implies, the blue morpho butterfly’s wings are bright blue, edged with black. The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. These butterflies are found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. What You Need: • Paper plates • Scissors • Blue & turquoise tissue paper • Glue • Black paint • Glitter What to Do: 1. Draw a wide, big “v” at the top of the plate and a small “v” at the bottom of the plate 2. Cut along the lines for the outline of your butterfly 3. Tear tissue paper into small pieces and glue them on the plate 4. Use black paint to draw the body and add details to the wings (show them a picture of a real morpho butterfly) Painted Ox Cart The traditional oxcart, or carreta, is Costa Rica’s most famous type of craft. Oxcarts were used to transport coffee beans from Costa Rica’s central valley over the mountains to the Pacific coast. In many cases, oxcarts were a family's only means of transport and often served as a symbol of social status. What You Need: • Paper - 6 x 12 inches for body of cart • 4 inch square paper for wheel shape • Strips of paper • Glue • Pencil • Black sharpies • Oil pastels What to Do: 1. Cut a rectangle shape for the main part of the cart as well as a circle for the wheel. 2. Divide the body of the cart into sections with pencil then add strips of paper for decoration. 3. Using the pencil draw on your designs. 4. Outline with sharpie all the pencil designs. 5. Fill patterns with bright coloured oil pastels. Costa Rican Sea Turtle Craft Sea Turtles live and breed along the Costa Rican coast of the Caribbean Ocean. There are seven species of sea turtles, 4 of which have been classified as endangered. What You Need: • Paper plate • Paint - Green, Yellow and Brown • Green foam sheet or construction paper • Scissors • Paint brush • Sponges • Glue • Black permanent marker • Pencil What to Do: 1. Cut sponge into 4 pieces. Dip into green paint then apply over the bottom and sides of paper plate. 2. Dip sponge into yellow paint then apply some to the same area. 3. Dip a new sponge into brown paint and apply to paper plate, let dry. 4. Print and cut out template pieces. 5. Using the template, trace 4 feet, 1 head and 1 tail onto the green foam sheet or construction paper, cut out all the pieces. Draw two eyes and a smile on the head with the black permanent marker. 6. Apply glue to the head, feet and tail pieces and paste them to the paper plate, creating the turtle. Costa Rican Sea Turtle template pieces: Head Foot Tail Foot Foot Foot Five Marias (Cinco Marias) – Jacks What You Need: • Five stones (use larger items for young children to avoid choking hazard) What to Do: 1. Children in Latin America frequently play Five Marias with small pebbles or stones they find on the roadside. 2. A player takes five stones and throws them on the ground. The player then picks one stone up, tosses it in the air and has to pick up one of the remaining stones before the first stone hits the ground. 3. If the player can do one successfully, he keeps going until all the stones are in hand. 4. He then throws the stone in the air and picks the remaining rocks up off the ground in groups of two, similar to playing jacks. The Little Pots (Los ollitas) Children play “The Little Pots” based on the activities they see take place at the market. 1. One child is a buyer, one is a seller and the other children play the “pots”. 2. The seller gives each “pot” a secret name, using market items like "beans" or "rice." 3. The buyer asks for market items until he chooses an item the seller has allocated to one of the pots. 4. The seller names the price of the item and the buyer has to pretend to remove the money from a pocket and count out the correct amount. 5. During the time the seller is counting, the pot has to run to a predesignated spot and back. If the pot does not make it to his place by the time the seller counts out the payment, the pot becomes the buyer. 1. El Aullido De Los Monos by Kristine L. Franklin 2. The Monkey Thief by Aileen Kilgore Henderson 3. The Parrot Tico Tango by Anne Witte The humid rainforests of Costa Rica are home to the vibrantly coloured Red-Eyed Tree Frog. The body of this iconic amphibian is lime green with blue and yellow striped flanks, a white underbelly, red eyes and orange feet. Costa Rica contains more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of different types of life found on the Earth and the variations within a species. In Costa Rica you can find 850 species of birds, 1000 species of butterflies, 900 species of plants and 208 species of mammals. Welcome to kids kitchen… The “Kids Kitchen” section is an exploration of food and cuisine around the world, each month we will discover a new country. “Kids Kitchen” includes the following: • Kitchen/food/cooking activities: Each month complete new kitchen/food/cooking related activities that will teach children important life skills. • Activity books: Each child has received a “Together Wee Can Taste the World” activity book, which include different food related activities. Each month help children work on a new activity in their books. • Local Food: You will find information about local food in each country along with some popular recipes. Explore new foods by making some of these recipes with the children. • Favourite Recipe: The children’s activity books include blank recipe pages, one for each country. You can use these pages to record a favourite recipe; pictures of children cooking/eating local foods, or children can draw or cut and paste pictures of local foods. Knowing what are good foods and bad foods is important so you can be healthy. Here is a good way to sort foods and help make Smart food choices; Go foods, Slow foods and Whoa foods. GO foods are lowest in fat, added sugar, calories and are the least GO processed foods. You can eat GO foods anytime! FOODS SLOW foods are higher in fat, added sugar and/or calories. SLOW foods are often more processed than SLOW GO foods. You can eat FOODS SLOW foods sometimes. WHOA foods are very high in fat, added sugar and/or calories. WHOA foods are WOAH the most processed foods. FOODS You should only eat WHOA foods once in a while. Now that you’ve learned the difference between GO Foods, SLOW Foods and WHOA foods print and cut out the food pictures and help children sort them into the right categories.