TOUR GUIDE For Adult Chaperones

Welcome to Worldways!

Teachers:Please xerox and distribute to adult chaperones prior to arrival at the museum.

For group tours, each exhibit is divided into six stations. Large groups are sub-divided into smaller groups of five children and one honorary tour guide (adult chaperone). Each small group will be rotating through the six stations. Listed below are descriptions of each station and suggestions for honorary tour guides on what to do at each station to enhance the hands-on learning experience.

Gateway to China Rotation Sheet for Group Leaders

Station 1 Chinese Characters/Tangram Room

  • Help children rotate the blocks on the wall to see how ancient Chinese characters developed from pictures into modern characters.

  • Encourage children to solve the seven-piece tangram puzzles (answers in desk drawer). Help children write their names in Chinese characters.

Station 2 Chinese Zodiac

  • Help the children find their sign on the Chinese zodiac.

  • Encourage the children to color in their zodiac sign.

  • Please put their names on everything they make to take home.

  • Carry these souvenirs in your map bag while children explore successive stations.

Station 3 Bedroom/Kitchen

  • Encourage children to try out the bed. Ask them how it is different from their beds at home.

  • Suggest that they investigate inside the child’s dresser (find books, etc.).

  • In the kitchen, pretend to cook a Chinese meal with the children.

  • Help the children learn how to use chopsticks to pick up the noodles or puff balls.

Station 4 Pavilion/Hopscotch

  • Show the children how to play the Chinese version of hopscotch.

  • Enjoy sitting under the pavilion and learning a new Chinese craft.

Station 5 Market Place/Herbal Medicine Chest

  • At the market place, ask the children what fruits or vegetables they see in the market that they don’t find in their own grocery stores.

  • At the pharmacy, have children open the drawers to see and smell the different herbal medicines.

  • Show the children how to count on an abacus.

Station 6 Clothing/Stage

  • Help the children find an outfit to try on. Explain to your group that these are traditional costumes.  Children in Chinese cultures today frequently wear jeans, t-shirts, and other American-style clothes. Children can look in the mirror to see themselves dressed up.

  • On the stage, have the children make up a story and act it out. Encourage the children to play musical instruments or do a ribbon dance.

  • Show the children the variety of opera masks on the wall. Do colors have different meanings to Chinese?

Oaxacan Village Rotation Sheet for Group Leaders

Station 1  The Gulf of Mexico and the 1968 Jeep

  • Children start their exciting visit to Oaxaca Village by crossing our 10-foot Gulf of Mexico

  • Encourage young travelers to move horizontally across the hand and foot holds to reach the other side without falling off.

  • Invite them to complete their trip to the village entrance by driving our 1968 jeep.

  • Demonstrate how to work the jeep’s equipment and remind them of safety tips posted on its sides.

Station 2 The Oaxacan Crafts Festival*

  • Explain that Oaxacan children weave and make crafts to sell.

  • Thread needles. Help students as they stitch their name or a design onto material at the embroidery table. This activity develops eye-hand coordination.

  • Assist young travelers to get started weaving at the loom. Oaxacan children pick cactus buds to make red dye for yarn their mothers use to weave.

  • Show students how to make traditional paper decorations called papel picados by folding and cutting squares of tissue paper.

Activities in this area may change seasonally to reflect holiday celebrations in Mexico.

Station 3 La Casa y el Solar - The House and Patio

  • Experience daily life in a Oaxacan household through activity and observation.

  • Discuss with the children the difficulties of living in a house approximately this size.

  • Direct the children’s attention to the roof.  From what meterial is it made?

  • Note Oaxacan children keep their clothes and toys in a corn sack that hangs in the house.

  • Have them sit or lie on the patete (straw mat), a child’s bed.

  • Guide children through the process of making a tortilla, a primary food in Oaxaca.

  • Follow the posted instructions.

Station 4 El Mercado - the Marketplace

  • Assist children in finding appropriate size clothes to dress up.

  • Wash clothes using an old fashioned washboard.

  • The children may take the role of customer or seller.

  • They can shop, trade, or barter for the clothing, fruit, and vegetables.

  • Play Loteria (bingo) with the children. Instructions are posted above the table. Encourage children to perform a Mexican dance.

Station 5  La Miscelanea - The “Mom and Pop” Store

  • Children have lots of fun role-playing in the store as the owner or customer.

  • Help the children count using Spanish numbers, and speak using Spanish vocabulary (for example, gracias for thank you and por favor for please).

  • Encourage the children to observe the assortment of Mexican items in the store.

Station 6 Palo Encabado - Slippery Pole

  • The object of the game is to reach the top of the pole.

  • Encourage children to clap their hands, saying “Arriba! Arriba!”  (“Up! Up!”) to encourage the child to reach the top of the pole. 

  • NO BARE FEET ALLOWED!

  • Touch prizes to score points. Don’t pull prizes off!

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