I've heard a lot of discussion about it lately as some of the children in my class are going through the registration process. I think the game is on our minds because our history investigation is developing in the path of a game, The Culture Game.
The inspiration for our game came from Parent Night.
Kali: They made green children because they were multi-cultural and they had two different cultures, not just one because if the orange culture is its own culture and the blue culture is its own culture, then they are technically making a new culture when you make it green.
Max: Then if even one orange person came over here, there could be hundred of green people because if more orange people come, then maybe one of these orange people could marry another blue person. We would end up getting a bunch of different cultures that you didn’t even have in the first place if just a few people didn’t immigrate. And it all started with just a few people immigrating here.
This conversation got us thinking about new cultures that develop as a mix of other cultures and wanted to think with color to represent the morphing of cultures as they mix.
How many colors would develop in America?
We each got a color of clay and made tiny ball people. We planned to mix them.
Wondering how to proceed with some sense of order and knowing the children had been thinking about creating a game to help them think and share about immigration, I saw an opportunity to slow down."We can mix our colors now (I think it will probably be over in about ten minutes) or we could slow down and turn this into the game you've been wanting to make. I think we would learn more."
While they were anxious to mix the clay, they were also willing to delay the immediate desire to make way for a slower, more deliberate process.
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| The initial set up-- just before we decided to slow down. |
The children have been developing cultures for their people.
They thought of so many different things that could influence a group of people and their values and traditions.
- Language
- Values
- Likes/dislikes
- Talents of the country
- Celebrations
- Resources*
- Pollution Rate*
- Hemisphere
- Climate temperature*
- Water level*
- Water purity*
- Technology/modernization*
- Type of ruler*
- Ruler's Disposition*
- Traditional Food
- Music
- Legends
- Vulnerabilities*
*= were drawn at random out of a bag
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| Our current map. A roll of the die determined the number of squares a country would inhabit. How would the land size and the population work together to form the culture? Placement on the map was determined by the hemisphere and the temperature of the country's climate. Hot countries were placed near the equator and cold countries were placed near the poles. |
We are trying to determine how to proceed. How will we take turns? How many people will immigrate? How will the cultures mix? How do we keep track of the changing cultures?
We shall see what the future holds...
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