Madagascar is an island located off the eastern coast of southern Africa in the Indian Ocean. is the world's fourth largest island. Madagascar has been isolated from Africa for over 150 million years. For this reason, most of the plants and animals found on the island exist nowhere else on Earth.

Because of its remoteness, humans did not settle on Madagascar until around 2.000 years ago. The Malagasy -- the name for the people of the island – came from Indonesia; they made their way across the Indian Ocean. and Africans arrived later and made important contributions to the unique cultural practices found on the island.

Madagascar is often called the "Great Red Island" because of its red soils, which are generally poor for agriculture. Madagascar's climate is highly variable. Generally, Madagascar has two seasons: a hot, rainy season from November to April and a cooler, dry season from May to October. The east coast is the wettest part of the country and thus home to the island's . This area is also hit periodically by devastating tropical storms and cyclones.

The central highlands are considerably cooler and drier, and are the location of much of Madagascar's agriculture, especially .

The west coast is home to dry deciduous forests. Deciduous trees lose all their leaves during the 6- to 8-month dry season.

When rains return, these forests erupt in a sea of bright green leaves. The southwest of Madagascar has the island's driest climate. Parts of this area can be considered desert because so little rain falls.

About 75% of Madagascar's species are only found in Madagascar and nowhere else in the world. The island is home to strange animals including (a group of primates), tenrecs (similar to hedgehogs), brightly coloured chameleons, the puma- like fossa, and a variety of other creatures. Due to habitat destruction and hunting, many of Madagascar's unique animals are threatened with extinction.

1. Location: Madagascar is an island country located in Africa.

2. Population: The population of Madagascar is approximately 23.2 million.

3. Capital of the Country: is the capital of Madagascar.

4. Flag: The flag of Madagascar consists of red and green

horizontal stripes and a white vertical band.

5. Language: Malagasy and French

6. Words/Terms:

I am hungry = Noana aho Soup = Lasopy

To cook = Mahandro Delicious = Matsiro

Water = Rano To eat = Misakafo

7. Currency: The currency used in Madagascar is called

Malagasy Ariary.

8. National Sport: The national sport in Madagascar is

Rugby.

9. National Animal: The national animal of Madagascar is

the . Lemurs are only found in Madagascar.

10. National Flower: The national flower of Madagascar is

the Poinciana.

African Rain stick Craft

What you need:

• Paper towel roll • Aluminum Foil • Glue or Mod Podge • Coloured tissue paper • Thumb Tacks • Filler: rice, corn kernels, small buttons, pony beads etc

What to do:

1. Push, hammer or tap your tacks into the tube (you may need to make small cuts with an exact-o knife to insert the tacks). 2. Once you have all of your tacks in, (remember: more is better), roll your tube up in aluminum foil. 3. Give a good squeeze all the way around so the foil is tight to the tube, and stuff the excess at ONE of the ends into the tube, plugging that end good and tight with foil 4. Pour your filler items (beads/rice/small corn kernels etc.) into the open end of the tube. Keep your items small (rice is ideal) so they don’t get jammed between the tacks. Now seal up the open end just like you sealed the bottom. 5. To decorate your rain sticks you can brush them with some watered down white glue, and then cover them with squares of coloured tissue paper, giving the tissue a light coating of the watered down glue. 6. Once your rain sticks are dry, tip them back and forth to hear the sound they make.

African Paper Plate Mask

What you need:

• Paper plate • Hole punch • Craft knife • Pipe cleaners • Beads • Newspapers • White glue • Paint brush • Tempera or poster paint • Coloured or crepe paper strips

What to do:

1. Punch 8 holes around the top half portion of the plate. 2. Draw and cut out a pair of holes. 3. Take some strips of newspaper, twist and form them into a mouth and nose shape. 4. Use white glue to attach the nose and mouth. 5. Allow the glue to dry. 6. Paint your mask brown. 7. Use white paint to make designs on the mask. Dots and stripes are common African mask elements and they're pretty easy to make. Try using the opposite tip of your brush for making dots. You may use your fingers too. 8. Cut 4 pipe cleaners in half and attach each piece to a hole on the mask. Simply loop one end of the pipe cleaner around the hole and twist it to secure it in place. 9. String coloured pasta and beads through each pipe cleaner. Seal the end by folding down the tip of the pipe cleaner. 10. Once you’re finished, you’re ready to show off your African mask.

Balancing Act: The African people go about their daily business with pots/baskets filled with water, , blankets, etc. on top of their heads. Let children practice balancing things on their heads; folded blankets/towels, a light basket, or a light book.

Slings: Women in Africa spend a lot of time with their children in a sling on their back. Make a simple sling using a blanket for the children to use and carry a doll in the sling.

Galloping Zebras: Have children stand in a large circle and pretend to be zebras. Have one child stand in the middle and beat a drum using fast and slow rhythms and the other children can gallop to the beat of the drum.

Monkey See, Monkey Do: Have children stand in a circle. Choose one child to make a funny movement and have the others try to imitate them.

The Clapping Game

1. Provider calls out to the group. Remind the children that you will try to trick them zebra, gorilla, Kwanzaa, shoe, taco, hippopotamus, Nile River, Sahara Desert, African masks, blue, polar bears, sock, talking drums, lion, dung beetle, white rhino, peanuts, balance items on head, pink, sink, t.v., watch, computer, chimpanzee, ostrich, cape seal, rock, python, flamingo, cheetah, spoon, balloon, monkey, hyena, jackal, elephant, book, leopard, aardvark, cape buffalo, wildebeests, anteaters, antelopes, lemur, tsetse fly, army ants, chair, hair, fork, table, meerkat, African violet plant, carry baby in a sling, rainstick, 2nd largest continent in the world, giraffe, grasslands, jungle, carry pots on top of head.

2. Children clap if the item called out by the Provider lives in Africa or if it is related to Africa.

1. Madagascar: Letters of the Red Island by Emma Fowler

2. 123 Count With Animals: Madagascar by Michele Boyd

3. We Visit Madagascar by Tammy Gagne

4. In Search of Lemurs by Joyce Ann Powzyk

The Lemur is the national animal of Madagascar and can only be found living in Madagascar.

Almost half of the world’s chameleons are found only in Madagascar. Known for their ability to change colour, these reptiles vary their appearance to blend into their surroundings.

Welcome to kids …

The “Kids Kitchen” section is an exploration of food and around the

world, each month we will discover a new country.

“Kids Kitchen” includes the following:

• Kitchen/food/ 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 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.

The is a dish made up of meat, fish, or fruit grilled on a skewer.

A skewer is a long piece of wood or metal used for holding pieces of food together while cooking.

Kebabs are delicious and often cooked on the BBQ and eaten during the summer months.

This activity promotes: Learning patterns, sorting (biggest to smallest), colour grouping, names of fruits and veggies, and fine motor skills.

What you need:

• Lunchmeats, cheese, fruits, veggies, and even sandwiches. • Wooden skewers • Cookie cutters

What to do:

1. Wash and cut fruits and veggies 2. To make a little more fun, you can cut foods into fun shapes using cookie cutters. 3. Children can make any combination they wish, just slide foods onto the skewer. 4. NOTE: young children may need help with this.

Fruit French Toast

Avocados are one of the wonderful fruits of summer, high in nutrition and flavour. Did you know you can grow an avocado tree using the pit from an avocado? It’s surprisingly easy to grow your own avocado tree and it makes a great educational project.

What you need:

• An avocado • Toothpicks • Glass of water • Pot • Soil

Step 1 – Remove and Clean Pit: You’ll need to start by removing the pit from the avocado carefully (without cutting it), and then washing it clean of all the avocado fruit (often it helps to soak the pit in some water for a few minutes and then scrub all the remaining fruit off). Be careful not to remove the brown skin on the pit – that is the seed cover.

Step 2 - Locate which end is up and which is down: some avocado pits are slightly oblong, whereas others are shaped almost like perfect spheres – but all avocado pits have a ‘bottom’ (from where the roots will grow), and a ‘top’ (from which the sprout will grow). The slightly pointier end is the top, and the flat end is the bottom. In order to get your pit to sprout, you will need to place the bottom root end in water, so it’s very important to figure out which end is the ‘top’ and which is the ‘bottom’ before you go piercing it with toothpicks.

Step 3 – Pierce with 4 toothpicks: Take four toothpicks and stick them at a slight downward angle into the avocado seed, spaced evenly around the circumference of the avocado. These toothpicks are your avocado scaffolding, which will allow you to rest the bottom half of the avocado in water, so therefore the toothpicks need to be wedged in there firmly. I recommend sticking them in at a slight angle (pointing down), so that more of your avocado base rests in the water when you set this over a glass.

Step 4 – Place avocado seed half submerged in a glass of water: And set on a quiet windowsill with sunlight. It’s helpful to use a clear glass so you can easily see when roots start to grow, and also when the water needs to be changed. Many guides recommend changing the water every day, but I found, through trial and error, that it is better to change the water every five days to a week or so. You do want to make sure you change the water regularly, to prevent mold, bacteria and fungus growth, which can doom your little avocado sprout.

Step 5 – Wait for Your Avocado Seed to Sprout: Many online guides I have read say that sprouting can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks, but in my experience, it usually takes at least 8 weeks to get a sprout, so be patient. Here is the process you will witness: a) The top of the avocado pit will dry out and form a crack, and the outer brown seed skin will slough off. b) The crack will extend all the way to the bottom of the avocado pit, and through the crack at the bottom, a tiny taproot will begin to emerge. c) The taproot will grow longer and longer (and may branch), and eventually a small sprout will peek through the top of the avocado pit. d) Do not allow your taproot to dry out unsubmerged EVER – doing so will kill your plant.

Step 6 – Pot in Soil When Tree is about 6 inches tall: When the stem is 6-7 inches long, cut it back to about 3 inches, this will encourage new growth. When it hits 6-7 inches again, pot it up in a rich humus soil in an 8-10″ diameter pot, leaving the top half of the seed exposed. Place on a sunny windowsill. Avocados love sun – the more sun the better.

Step 7 – Water & Watch it grow: Water your plant frequently with an occasional deep soak. The soil should always be moist, but not saturated. Yellowing leaves are a sign of over-watering; let the plant dry out for a few days.

Step 8 – Pinch out top leaves to encourage bushiness: When the stem reaches 12 inches tall, pinch out the top two sets of leaves. This will encourage the plant to grow side shoots and more leaves, making it bushy. Each time the plant grows another 6 inches pinch out the 2 newest sets of leaves on top.

Step 9 – Troubleshooting Bugs: My avocado trees seem to collect aphids – the nasty critters can’t get enough of the delicious avocado leaves. If you get them, here’s how to get rid of them: Wash all of the aphids off the plant by spraying your plant down with a hose outside or in the sink/shower. Once the little pests are off, spray your plant with a mixture of water with a small squirt of dishwashing liquid and a teaspoon of neem oil. This will keep aphids from returning. Check your plant every 4-5 days and re-clean and spray when necessary.

Step 10 – Wintering: Baby avocado trees can kick it outdoors in summer, but if you live anywhere where it gets cooler than 45 degrees F, you’ll need to bring them back indoors in the fall/winter, before the temperatures fall.

WILL MY AVOCADO TREE EVER GROW FRUIT?

Hard to say! Sometimes avocado plants will begin growing fruit after they’re 3 or 4 years old, others take 15+ years to grow fruit, and some never do. It helps to have several avocado trees growing together to aid with pollination. However, don’t expect the fruit to be anything like the avocado that yielded your seed. Commercial avocados are grown from grafted branches to control the outcome of the fruit – a naturally grown avocado may be very different than its parent!

Malagasy cuisine blends the influences of the Arabic, Chinese, French, African and Indian cultures present in Madagascar. Of , there are regional variations - each zone has very different vegetables, fruits and fish available and ingredients on hand command local recipes.

As it happens in most of the African territory, in Madagascar consist of less meat, more whole grain cereals and beans, and lots, lots, lots more fresh fruits and vegetables than Western meals.

Rice makes the staple of the Malagasy diet; fish, beef or chicken are just the frills on the side. A bowl of rice on its own is considered a perfectly suitable . In the countryside, the bowl of rice arrives together with a bowl of a very clear broth made from leafy vegetables.

Rice is food everywhere in Madagascar. In fact, rice for breakfast, and dinner is a normal food day. Eating rice is rooted so deep in the land some people will claim they were not be able to sleep the day they did not have a meal of rice. Rice may come with a made from beef, fish, chicken or duck, or vegetables with a few for flavour and plain vegetables, boiled in water, will make a side dish.

Noodles are the natural option other than rice. Noodles will come steaming in a bowl either fried, with vegetables or meat, or in the shape of a Chinese broth, with vegetables, fish or meat. In a more rustic setting, root vegetables, such as manioc, and corn will complement the diet.

Zebu cattle are the main source for the meat consumed. A zebu beef stew or zebu steak is as delicious as traditional beef when cooked well. The lower quality beef is usually cut into small cubes, boiled in salted water with onion and garlic until really tender –so tender that it can be shredded with a fork- then cut into thin strips, and roasted until brown.

Chicken or goat is also standard fare and you will find chicken readily available. Pork meat is available but eating pork is taboo in many parts of Madagascar.

Malagasy Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk • 1 pod • 4 tbsp. sugar • Pinch nutmeg • Pinch clove • 5 tbsp. tapioca • 2 tbsp. cream • 4 bananas, very ripe • ½ ounce butter • 4 eggs

Directions:

1. In a pan, mix milk, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg and the clove, bring to a boil. Withdraw from heat, throw the tapioca in mix and put back on low heat, let cook 10 minutes while frequently moving with a spoon made of wood. 2. During this time, heat the oven. (Let’s say 350F). 3. Remove the tapioca from heat, withdraw the pod of vanilla add cream and move. Mash the bananas with a fork and then mix with the tapioca. 4. Butter an ovenproof round mold. 5. Incorporate the eggs, one by one to the previous mixture while moving well, place in middle oven and let cook 15 minutes. 6. Serve hot or tepid in the dish of cooking.

Mofo Gasy (yeasted pancakes)

This is a sweet dish usually eaten for breakfast or for dessert in Madagascar. They are little fried cakes with the sweet and creamy flavours of condensed milk, grated coconut, coconut milk and sugar. Eat them hot off the stove as pancakes, or cooled with fruit and ice cream.

Ingredients:

• ½cup Whole-wheat pastry Flour (or use all purpose flour) • ¼cup+2tbsp Cream of Rice • ½tsp Instant yeast • 2tbsp, Sugar - divided use • ¾cup Lukewarm Water • 1½tsp Condensed Milk (optional) • ½tsp Vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cream of rice, yeast, 1tsp sugar and water. Mix well, cover the bowl and set aside to rise for 1~2 hours. The more the rests, the more chance cream of rice has to soften. 2. Stir in the remaining sugar, condensed milk (if using) and vanilla extract. Mix to combine. Cover and set aside until the mixture gets frothy, about 30~45 minutes. 3. Heat pan on medium heat. Put ¼tsp oil and pour about 1tbsp batter in each well. Cook for 1~2 minutes or until the bottoms get golden brown. Using a fork or a wooden skewer, flip them over and cook on the other side until golden and the inside is cooked through. 4. Serve hot for breakfast or at room temperature as a snack.

Lasary Avocat (avocado salad)

Ingredients:

• 2 large avocados • 1 spring onion, chopped • 1 tomato, diced • 6 tbsp oil • 1 tbsp lemon juice • 1/2 tsp salt • 1/2 tsp vinegar • 2 pinches of freshly-ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk together the onion, tomato, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and black pepper to make a dressing. 2. Cut each avocado in half lengthways, remove the pits and cut into slices. 3. Arrange the avocado slices onto serving dishes and spoon the dressing over top.