Empower, Engage, Educate in Rural Kenya!

Play is vital for development and education as it allows children, youth and adults the opportunity to use their creativity while developing their imagination and physical, cognitive and emotional strength. In the Kenya Connect Makerspace, we provide a supportive environment for learners to experiment, work together and learn through making. This also involves making games for fun too! Recently, our students did a guided activity on how they can create their own game using materials that are easily available. The activity involved learners between PP1 and grade 8 who really enjoyed working and playing together. They learned various lessons in the process and had an opportunity to actually think and share about different ways to use the materials presented to make a game. They made good guesses!

How good is your aim! They created the ring toss game using paper plates to make the rings, aluminum foil tube to make the stake and cardboard for the stand. They connected the foil core to the cardboard using hot glue. The paper plate rings were created of different diameters. They took turns tossing the ring into the stake/tissue paper core. It was great fun!

We tried aiming with the ping pong toss game using plastic party cups and a ping pong ball. In two teams, they placed the same number of cups on each side. Each participant on both sides took turns aiming a ping pong ball into a cup. The team that exhausted the cups on the opposite end won.  

Can we play with a balloon without using our hands? We used yarn and balloons of different colours. Students created a web and used a game where you mention your favorite colour, food etc before you threw a ball of yarn to someone else. The trick was to ensure that the web was spaced enough to hold the balloon and bounce it without using your hands. Students worked together to ensure the balloon doesn't fall and also close up any spaces that made the balloon fall. Afterwards they just played with the balloons as they normally would (throw and catch)

“Let’s see how good we are at working together!” I said. To experiment this, we used straws and different colour construction paper to play a straw sucking game. Students cut evenly sized pieces of blue and pink construction paper and numbered them 1-50. Paired into two groups, they helped one another identify the numbers in order and one player would suck the paper and carry it into a bowl. They took turns doing this and the group that finished first was the winner.

We also tried working together in a game we made using toilet paper tubes and yarn. The students organized themselves in 2 groups and on one end, I placed the same number of tissue cores. They worked together to ensure they passed along all the tissue cores from one end to the other. They first team wins.

This activity helped students learn how teamwork can make work easier and faster, how we can take care of our environment by upcycling different materials such as cardboards, paper plates, tissue cores. The students also learned easy ways you can make your own game and play by yourself, with family or friends. In addition to this, they learnt the essence of turn-taking by giving each other an opportunity to play. Since the activity was all inclusive, they learnt that helping one another is good and so is asking for help whenever you feel stuck. The upper grade students helped lower grade students in playing. They also got to learn new terms such as ping pong, stake, base/stand, ring toss and what they mean. For many of these students, Kenya Connect's makerspace is the first time they have used these types of materials for learning OR play!

Learning is fun, and thanks to you, we have incredible staff like Sharon Mwende who runs our Makerspace activities. Donations ensures that we have the staff and materials to provide educational enrichment in our makerspace, EdTech Hub and Library! We are deeply grateful!

We hope you have time to play in your life!

We have been celebrating Earth Day in Wamunyu!  Students at Mutyangoi Primary School are earth champions! They are members of the new Moringa Tree club. This group of students, under the leadership of Mentor Brian, have been planting and watering Moringa Trees. The students are learning about the life cycle of the tree, best practices of growing, and the many benefits of the "Mighty Moringa." They, and parents from the school, will help harvest the leaves which will be ground into powder and sold for income. This is part of our initiative to provide income generation programs, plant more trees as part of the Kenyan 15 billion tree initiative and to teach students about the importance of trees in mitigating climate change. “We are excited to be planting Moringa Trees in our school because it is medicinal and the leaves can be cooked. We will also have more plants in the school compound because we have been growing vegetables through the environmental subject.” Mutyangoi PS club members.

In addition, our April 22 Earth Day Saturday Storytime was a special Earth Champion lesson. Mentor David read the book, “Touch the Earth" by Jane Baskwill.” The students then created trees using toilet paper tubes and tissue papers. Our Makerspace has been featuring activities using materials that can be upcycled like plastic bottles, toilet paper tubes, and bottle caps. At the conclusion of the activities, the students helped clean up the Kenya Connect campus by picking up trash. 

Mentor David shared, “There are so many ways people can celebrate Earth Day and through the Saturday Storytime we decided to celebrate through reading.” Students learned different ways that they can touch the Earth like showing kindness, planting a tree and caring for animals and other people. Through reading they will transform their world.”

Donors like you ensure that we can provide these enrichment programs that are not only fun, but help our students learn about being good stewards of the earth. The many programs we provide give students skills and knowledge they can share with their families and use in their lives.

We are so excited to see our Earth Day trees GROW!