Collection Africa
Explore a rich tapestry of music, dance, drumming, and theater performances and conversations ranging across a number of countries and regions in Africa.
In this 6-8 lesson, students will gather information about the first ruler of Mali, Sundiata Keita, known as the Lion King of Mali. Students will explore the Dama and Sirige masqueraders and the traditions of Malian music, dance, puppetry, and storytelling. Students will learn African drumming and create puppet masquerades.
Students will:
Books or Digital Text
Websites
Additional Materials
The teacher should be familiar with Malian culture and the story of Sundiata.
Students should be familiar with the role of festivals, ceremonies, and traditions across cultures.
Provide assistive technologies during research and the art-making process. Allow sufficient space for movement around the room.
One of the most important elements of these festivals is the use of masks. Masks used in ceremonies of this kind are meant to show the personalities and strengths of people from the village's history. Typically, this is done through animal imagery. The behavior and habits of various animals make us associate them with certain personality traits. What are some of the character traits that we associate with various animals? (The sly fox; the fearless lion; the loyal dog are just a few examples.)
-Five(ish) Minute African Drumming Lesson 1: The Djembe
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Provide supplies for students to create puppets: fabric, string, cardboard or poster board, scissors, sticks or pencils, tape, glue, paints, or markers.
Original Writer
Daniella Garran
Editor
JoDee Scissors
Updated
December 28, 2021
Explore a rich tapestry of music, dance, drumming, and theater performances and conversations ranging across a number of countries and regions in Africa.
Lesson plans, activities, and other resources that focus on telling stories through theater, music, dance, writing, and visual arts.
You can’t have African dance without music. The two are inseparable; the dancers are drumming and the drummers are dancing. Learn about two drums—the cajon and djembe —and how to play a rhythm called Funga.
Sogolon is the puppet show and theatrical company created by Yaya Coulibaly in order to perpetrate and promote the Mali puppet tradition. The group's core mission is to contribute to develop and promote the Bamanan-Somono-Bozo puppet show.
A conversation with members of the touring production of Disney's The Lion King: Deborah Shrimpton (Resident Director), L. Steven Taylor (Mufasa), Tshidi Manye (Rafiki), Drew Hirschfield (Zazu), Michael Reilly (Puppet Master), and Ken Davis (Production Stage Manager)
From traditional shadow puppets and lion dance celebrations from China, to bringing the beloved characters of children's book authors Leo Lionni and Mo Willems to the stage, to very different interpretations of the legend of The Lion King from both Disney and Sogolon Puppet Theatre from Mali, discover the vast world of puppetry, including activities on how you can make your own puppets at home.Â
In this 6-8 lesson, students will learn how light interacts with matter through the creation of puppets in shadow plays. Students will examine how light travels and how an object's shadow is affected by the intensity and position of the light in relation to both the object and the surface on which a shadow is cast. This is the first lesson designed to accompany the Shadow Puppet Plays lesson.
Have you heard the news? You can use yesterday’s newspaper and turn it into a tabletop rod puppet! All you will need is newspaper, tape, some sticks, and a bit of imagination. Puppeteer Julie Dansby Scarborough will guide you through easy step-by-step instruction so that your simple materials transform into a puppet that walks, moves, and dances!  Â
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