2nd Grade: African Kente Cloth

February is black history month. Although we learn about other African American artists throughout the year, I think it is important to be sure I teach my students about some African culture, or important figures. For second grade, we learned about Kente cloth, which is a style of art from African Culture. We discussed reasons the cloth would be worn, how it was made, the bright colors, and geometric patterns found on the cloth. The students and I then looked at a photograph of three African women carrying baskets on their head. We discussed why the women carried baskets, to take the pressure off their backs of carrying around these heavy loads. The second graders were assigned to design three figures wearing kente clothes. We used a burlap material to make the baskets on top of the figures heads. The students painted their figures with bright colors.