Many of our KKI staff around the world are working with poor and needy young people - such as street kids, orphans, or children in disadvantaged situations. We do not only share the gospel with these young people; we usually help meet their physical needs - for food and clothing, for example - and often we also offer support with their educational needs. In many parts of the developing world, less than 60% of the population can read and write. Helping a child or teenager with his schooling can be part of helping him to make a better future for himself and his family. In Cape Town, we taught computer skills to disadvantaged young people, and many of our KKI workers in other parts of Africa, Asia and South America are also involved in literacy programmes as well as feeding programmes.
Our Fabricants de Joie (KKI) workers in Togo welcome dozens of children after school every day to help them with different aspects of their homework. So I wasn't surprised when "educational games" was one of the things they asked me to bring with me when I travel down to West Africa in just a few days' time. However, when I went out to look in the shops, I simply couldn't find anything at all. There didn't seem to be any educational toys or games (except for very small children) and the only educational puzzle books I could find were in Spanish, of course. I realised it was time to draw on my background as a teacher, get creative, and make up some games of my own.
The ones I just finished making this morning are designed to help children practise mathematics - more specifically, their multiplication or what we sometimes call their "times tables." I made up a variety of different worksheets and puzzles, but I also made a game based on the concept of the dice game, Yahtzee. (Perhaps you know it: you have to throw as many ones as possible, as many twos as possible, etc.) By putting more dice than usual into each box, I've come up with a game where the children can have fun at the same time as practising their multiplication (and also their addition, when it comes to adding up the points at the end of the game!)
My next challenge will be to create some word search puzzles which will help the children with their reading and spelling - in French, of course!
