A guide in English for librarians full of fun and educational activities to organize at their library

1. Friends of African Village Libraries/CESRUD
May 2013
c/o Sumbrungu Community Library
Box 267
Bolgatanga, Upper East
Ghana
Activities Guide
A guide for librarians full of
fun and educational activities
to organize at the library
Friends of African Village Libraries/CESRUD

2. PAGE 2 Introduction
This guide has been created for you, the
librarians, to offer ideas of different ac-
tivities to organize at the library. There
are activities for children, students and
adults. There are reading, art and theatre
activities as well educational workshops.
There are a number of activities for you
to try, but please do not be limited to
this guide. Use your knowledge, imagi-
nation and creativity to organize other
fun activities that are both educational
and productive. Feel free to add activi-
ties that you know and you would like
to share in the guide.
Have Fun!
Educational Sessions PAGE 19
Awareness about female excision
Excision is a practice that often impedes social and cultural well-being
of girls and women.
Materials: Pictures of female genital tract, excision
First meeting
List the external parts of the female genital tract. Show the diagram and
discuss. [Note: The facilitator directs without pressure.]
Animator: What do you see in this picture? Is excision is a good thing?
Organize into two groups: those that are for and against excision. Dis-
cuss the different ideas. Each person explains why they are for or
against excision.
Animator explains that non-excised women are also clean and re-
spected and do not make their husbands impotent. Excised women can
be traumatized by the pain they suffer. It is not true that the clitoris of
the non-excised woman kills her baby at birth. Excised women feel less
during sexual intercourse.
Second session
Recall of the two arguments. Each member of the groups makes a
resolution to confirm or disprove his choice.
Explain: Excision may cause sterility in women. Excision can cause
hemorrhage, tetanus, AIDS, which can lead to death. Excised women
who give childbirth will experience painful births and potential deadly
conditions afterwards.

3. PAGE 18 Educational Sessions
Hygiene awareness: Experiment with hot pepper
Objectives: Students should be able to:
 Understand that most of the bacteria that cause illness are invisible.
 Wash hands with soap every time you eat
Purpose: To show that invisible bacteria in your body can cause disease,
just like chili reacts with the eyes.
Materials needed: hot pepper, soap, dish, water
Choose a student and ask him to touch the pepper with his hand. Ask if
the hot pepper is visible on the hand. Ask the student if he would rub
his eyes with his hand. When he refuses, ask why. Offer a little water to
the student and have him wash his hands (without soap). Again, ask
him to rub his eye. If he still refuses, ask why. Now provide soap and
water to the student and ask him to wash his hands. Now he will touch
his hand to his face.
Explain that while hot pepper on a hand is not always visible, but it is
still dangerous and painful when you rub your eyes without washing
your hands. It is the same for bacteria. They are invisible, but they can
cause illness if you do not wash your hands. When you eat without
washing your hands, your stomach will hurt just like the hot pepper in
the eye. So always wash your hands before eating!
PAGE 3 Table of Contents
Reading Techniques… … … … … … … … …p. 4
Reading Activities… … … … … … … …p. 5—8
Art activities… … … … … … … … … p. 9—10
Song and Dance… … … … … … … … … …p. 11
Fun Games … … … … … … … … … p. 12—13
Debates … … … … … … … … … …p. 14—15
Theatre … … … … … … … … … … …p. 16—17
Educational Sessions… … … … … … …p.18—19

4. PAGE 4 Reading Techniques
Each child learns in a different way, especially when it comes to read-
ing. There are various techniques that you can use with young readers
to improve their literacy skills.
1. Guided free reading
Each student takes a book of their choice and reads silently while you
supervise. Students can ask questions regarding difficult words, phrases
or images.
2. Free reading
Each student takes a book of his or her choice and sits in the library or
out in courtyard to read.
3. Group reading
Divide the children into small groups. Choose a book for each group.
One by one, the child reads out loud as his peers follow and listen si-
lently. When the reader has finished the passage, he passes the book to
his neighbor to continue.
4. Peer tutoring
Place children into pairs, two by two, strong readers with weak readers.
The two read together, the stronger reader helping the weaker reader.
This is a very good exercise
that makes weaker readers
more comfortable and raises
the confidence of strong
readers.
Theater (cont.) PAGE 17
Using theater to educate
Theater is an effective way to get people thinking about how situations
relate to their lives. Find a group of kids who are not too timid
(theater doesn’t work well is everyone is afraid to speak!) and find a
topic that the kids feel strongly about or that is currently an issue in
your community. Here are some examples, but you can create a play
about anything (hygiene, the library, eating nutritious meals, etc.,
etc.).
Scenario: delaying sex
Fatima meets a young man named Boubacar at school. She likes him
because he is handsome and athletic. He greets her after class and gives
her a gift, and says it’s for their future friendship. He invites her to out
to a bar. Fatima likes him but the situation makes her uncomfortable.
What should she do?
Scenario: peer pressure
1. A group of friends from school are at a dance party. They are danc-
ing and having a good time together. One of the friends brings out a
beer from under his/her jacket. He or she begins to drink and tries to
get the others to drink with him/her. Some of the friends in the group
agree. Show how others might deal with this peer pressure situation.
2. A group of friends are walking around town. They have nothing to
do and are bored. One of them suggests they go steal from the candy
shop. Some approve because it will be something exciting for them to
do. On the way there, one of them is afraid and does not want to par-
ticipate. Create a role play showing what this person would do to resist
peer pressure.

5. PAGE 16 Theater
“Oh Henry”
This activity is a great introduction to theater for beginners. It is an ex-
ercise in expressing emotions. Ask the group form a circle. Remind
them we communicate in many different ways, including with our
bodies and our voices. Explain that this activity will illustrate how dif-
ferent uses of our voice and our body can communicate different
things.
Show how you can say the sentence "Oh Henry" to express various
emotions, such as anger, fear and laughter. Ask each participant to take
a turn and practice different intonations and facial expressions.
Some emotions to try: Sadness, anger, fear, grief, anxiety, joy, love,
passion, confusion, depression, jealousy, misery, regret, guilt, disap-
pointment, happiness.
After each participant has taken a turn, discuss what techniques were
used to express the different emotions. Have each participant take an-
other turn, and this time, the group has to guess which emotion is be-
ing expressed.
Reading Activities PAGE 5
Alphabet Workshop
In this activity, students practice the alphabet and each letter’s sound. It
can be done with a large or small group of students. Write each letter
of the alphabet on a small piece of paper several times, so that you end
up with 4 or 5 sets of the alphabet. Spread the pieces of paper out ran-
domly in front of the kids. Work on various techniques like: identify-
ing letters and words that start with the letters, putting letters in order,
associating sounds with letters, creating syllables, etc.
Look at the cover ... and guess!
Divide the children into small groups and choose a book that no one
has read. Show them only the cover. Tell them to imagine what will
happen in the book, simply by looking at the cover image and title.
Have them share their thoughts with the group. After, read the book
to the group and assess whether they were right and why they made the
predictions they did.
Guess the ending
Read a story to the children, but stop a few pages before the resolution
of the story. Let students exchange ideas about how they think the
story should end. After the exchange read the ending of the story and
see who’s prediction was the closest.

6. PAGE 6 Reading Activities (cont.)
Noun-Mania
Start students with a noun (ex: house). They write that word at the top
of a sheet of paper. Say "Go!" and students will extend their list by writ-
ing a noun that begins with the last letter of the noun before it. The
activity continues. The person with the longest list of nouns at the end
of three minutes is the winner. (ex: house, elephant, toe, egg, gerbil,
ladder, road, dollar, robot) Verify that all words are nouns.
Alphabet Country
Ask students to sit in a circle on the floor. Choose a student and ask
him or her to name a country of the world that begins with the letter
A. The next student in the circle should name a country that begins
with B, then C, and so on until the class has identified a country for
every letter of the alphabet (except X). If a student cannot name a
country, the turn passes to the next student in the circle. If more than
three students in a row are stumped by the same letter, return to the
first stumped student and allow him or her to look for a country on a
map or globe. If time allows, ask each student to create an alphabet
book of the countries of the world.
Word BINGO
Write a list of 20+ words on the blackboard. Give each student a sheet
of paper that they fold in halves until its folded into sixteenths. Each
student unfolds their piece of paper and writes one word from the list
in each of the boxes. They can choose any words that they like. Begin
calling out the words on the blackboard,
one by one. When a student gets four
words in a line (horizontally, vertically
or diagonally), they stand up and shout
“BINGO!” Play can continue until eve-
ryone has won.
Debates (cont.) PAGE 15
Potential themes for debates:
1. We do not need to sleep at night with mosquito nets.
2. Why use latrines when we have nature?
3. Since every woman will marry and have children and have her hus-
band take care of her, women do not need to continue school after
the primary level.
4. Sexual relations before marriage are part of modern life.
5. Using condoms is against African cultures.
6. "It is good for a boy to experience sex before marriage, but if a girl
does so, she is a prostitute.”
7. Only men have the right to decide when to have sex with their
wives.
8. Continuing their education is the best way for women to be inde-
pendent.
9. Having more than one sexual partner gives you a fuller life.
10. The use of condoms prevents you to experience true sexual pleas-
ure.

7. PAGE 14 Debates
Debates are great activities to do with people of all ages and education
level. It is a great way to share ideas and introduces different opinions.
Small group discussions
This is a good activity to do with younger children and get them to
exchange ideas with their peers. Ask questions about their culture and
environment. After giving them a minute to think, begin the discus-
sion.
Examples of topics:
a) How to avoid malaria; b) How to respect the library; c) Maintenance
of books in the library; d) Use of latrines; e) How to succeed at school;
f) How to overcome peer pressure
Debates
Discussions organized around formal arguments between two diver-
gent groups on a controversial issue are very effective. Debates are
more effective if you:
 Choose a theme that participants really care about
 Insist that the participants team up on the opposite group of the
argument they believe. This forces them to think differently and
analyze the discussion on all levels to develop an effective argu-
ment. This also helps them see things from the perspective of oth-
ers.
 Write themes of the debate in advance so that participants can re-
search and collect information to develop their arguments.
 Divide into teams for the debate. Try to make them argue and de-
fend by turns so that everyone is obliged to think and participate.
 Have judges (parents, teachers, health staff, etc.) come and listen to
the arguments and choose the winning team. Hand out small
prizes.
Reading Activities (cont.) PAGE 7
Book report
Ask a library member to choose a book to take home. After they read
it, have them write a short summary that you can display in the library.
The report should say what the story is about and what the reader liked
or disliked about it. You can also organize a session where readers meet
and share their summaries with others.
Write a story
Invite readers to write a story or fable of their choice.
Share a story with family
This activity is a good way to raise awareness of the library and its im-
portance in the community. Ask readers to choose a book they like
and bring it home to their families. They should read, share and discuss
the story with different family members. The next day, the child shares
or writes about his experience.
Poetry Writing
Explain the concept of poetry and rhymes to the group. Play matching
games to make sure kids understand rhymes. After, have them write
their own poems and decorate them with drawings in colored pencil to
create a book.
Acrostic Poetry
Have each student choose a word or name of a person and write it ver-
tically on a sheet of paper. For
each letter in the word, students
come up with a line to describe it.
Example:
B rings out your imagination
O ne can enter a new world
O ne of a kind
K eeps your brain smart

8. Yesse
Have the children form a line. Say a word, like "school" or "book", for
example. One by one, the students call out the letter to spell the given
word. If someone makes a mistake, the group shouts "Yesse" and they
are eliminated. The last child left standing is the winner. You can add
rules if you want. For example, the first child says the letter, the second
says the sound of this letter and the third one says a word that begins
with that letter.
Hopscotch
Draw hopscotch on the ground with chalk. In each hopscotch square,
write a letter of the alphabet. The children play the game normally, but
when they land in a square they must say the letter, its sound and a
word beginning with that letter.
PAGE 8 Reading Activities (cont.) Fun Games (cont.) PAGE 13
Telephone
Ask participants to sit in a circle. Think of a phrase like "There are many
people who enjoy working in the garden" or "I will walk toward the
river to go fishing." Whisper your phrase softly to the person to your
right. This person then quietly whispers the same phrase to the person
on their right, and so on. Each person should only whisper what he
heard and cannot repeat the phrase more than once. Finally, the person
to your left should be the last to hear the sentence. Ask him to repeat
it aloud. Then tell the group what your initial phrase was.
Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo
With chalk draw three lines down on the ground. Mark Burkina on the
first line, Ghana on the middle line and Togo on the third line. All par-
ticipants must start on the Ghana line. Begin shouting the names of
the 3 countries and participants must jump from one country to an-
other (on the line), according to the country you say. If any partici-
pant jumps on the wrong country, falls or wobbles, they are out of the
game. The last participant standing is the winner.
Riddles
Ask a riddle to the children. Give them time to reflect the answer and
share with to the group.
Examples
What always sleeps with its shoes on?
Answer: a horse
What has a bark but no bite?
Answer: a tree

9. PAGE 12 Fun Games
Lifeboat
Go outside or in a spacious area. Tell the group to imagine they're
floating on a vast ocean. They need to make rescue boats to survive.
Yell out a number, for example "6"! Participants should form groups of
six to avoid drowning. If the group is composed of more or less than 6
persons, the entire group has “drowned” and is eliminated. The two re-
maining people standing are the winners.
Spider web
Participants form small group - about five or six people. Each person
grabs hold of the hands of those in their circle. They cannot hold hands
with the person next to them, and they must hold the hands of two
different people. Then they must try to untangle and return to one
open circle--without letting go of one another’s hands. After every-
one is done, ask questions about the activity. What made groups suc-
cessful? Why? What techniques were used?
Draw the picture
Here is a good activity to illustrate the different perceptions people
have of what they hear. Ask 5 volunteers to leave the room for a few
minutes. Ask participants to draw a simple illustration, like a house or a
tree. Bring back the 1st volunteer and show them the drawing for 20
seconds. Hide the picture and then bring in the 2nd volunteer. The 1st
volunteer must verbally describe the illustration in the 2nd who in turn
describes to the 3rd, and so on. When the 5th volunteer has heard a
description, give him a new sheet of paper and colored pencils. He will
try to make the illustration as he hears it. They should not receive any
help from the group. When he has finished, compare it with the origi-
nal.
Art Activities PAGE 9
Drawing
Sit the children comfortably at a table with enough space and equip-
ment. Let them draw freely. Materials needed: paper, pencils, erasers,
crayons and colored pencils.
Making necklaces
Use old magazines to tear strips, lengthwise, from top to bottom,
about 1 inch thick. Children roll the pieces into tight coils. Put a drop
of glue at the end to properly close the coils. They must make enough
to make a necklace. Attach the coils onto a thin rope or twine and tie
it around the neck of the child.
Collage
Give old magazines to children and let them cut out the pictures and
images they want. With glue or tape, they stick the images onto a
sheet of paper. You can give each a theme, like "my life at home," "at
school" “at the library " Students use pictures related to the theme.
Creating a mask
Pass out sheets of white paper to children and help them draw the mask
outline dotted or solid lines. Masks can be in the form of wild or do-
mestic animals, or even vegetables. Cut out the mask and let the chil-
dren decorate their masks freely, using colored pencils. Tie the masks
to the head of the child using elastics. Each child should write his name
behind the mask and you can display
them in the library.
Materials needed: paper, pencils, col-
ored pencils, erasers, crayons, markers,
scissors, staplers, rubber bands, glue.

10. PAGE 10 Art Activities (cont.)
Making a book
In this activity, children combine writing and drawing by creating their
own book. For example, a student might create a Book of Colors. On
each page, the student writes a sentence such as "the pants are yellow,"
and then illustrates it. Children may work alone or in groups. Display
the books in the library.
Making bookmarks
Cut white paper into the shape of a bookmark (long and rectangular).
Let children decorate the bookmarks freely with colored pencils or
markers. This activity is a good opportunity to talk about how to prop-
erly handle and care for the library books.
Origami
Origami is an ancient Japanese art form. Different forms are created
(animals, flowers, etc.) simply by folding paper in different ways.
Head of a Dog
1. Use a regular-sized piece of white paper. Turn it diagonally and fold
in two. (Figure 1)
2. Fold over the corners, like the diagram below. (Figure 2)
3. Use crayons or colored pencils to draw a face. (Figure 3) Done!
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3
Song and Dance PAGE 11
Alice the Camel
Alice the camel has 10 humps, Alice
the camel has 10 humps
Alice the camel has 10 humps, so go,
Alice, GO!
Bom Bom Bom…
[Continue with 9,8,7…humps until…]
Alice the camel has no humps, Alice
the camel has no humps
Alice the camel has no humps, ‘cause Alice is a HORSE!
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Head and shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes.
Head and shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes.
And eyes and ears, and a mouth and a nose.
Head and shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes.
[Touch the appropriate body part each time it’s mentioned. Second
time: don’t say the word “head’’ aloud but still touch it. Each verse
thereafter, add another body part that you touch but don’t mention
aloud.]
B-I-N-G-O
There was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name-o
B-I-N-G-O
B-I– N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o
[Repeat, but when spelling Bingo, clap instead of saying “B.” The next
time clap twice in place of “B” and “I.” Continue replacing letters with
claps until you’re clapping for each of the letters in Bingo’s name, in-
stead of spelling it.]