Russia is the country of the month

Russia is the new country of the month, and while I enjoyed learning of the different Asian cultures, I am so happy to be on something different. The kids aren't all that particular, everything is new to them, but I find I am terribly inpatient, and need greater variety!

Fortunately Russia is nothing if not diverse. With over 100 languages, varied geography (you mean it isn't all tundra?), and rich culture, there is plenty to keep me from being bored. For example did you know it isn't all frigid temperatures? They actually have summer, for about a month in July.

Some related coloring pages: Map, Flag, girl in dress, and nesting dolls

I found a Peter and the wolf cartoon plus some other work by Prokofiev.

Then I went looking for some Russian basics. I found this silly song Rap alphabet. Plus a few odds and ends of Russian children's music.
No numbers or easy to understand fun vocabulary though. I did find this cute little animated show with subtitles. (though not very flattering to scouts...)

One of our pastors spent a year in Russia so he helped us out with an easy greeting "Pre Ve-et" (of course not spelled that way in Russian) And a quick good by of "Pa Ka"

We also were able to borrow a calendar and some neat books from interesting places in Russia, as well as a CD of church music. I don't know which parts will interest the kids most, but I am looking forward to finding out.

I am also looking forward to a plethora of books requested from the library. Some Russian folk tales and some books on the country.

For math I found out Russian children sometimes play p'yanitsa which is basically 'war'. If you turn over two cards at a time it becomes double digit war. Much more interesting for older children. (My brother had a fondness for this game, where he wanted to 'set the deck' before each round. I have always hated war myself - but it helps small children learn numbers) I also found many rules to complicated Russian versions of bridge, but not to sure I can teach that to the kids, since I don't even play bridge.

There is also Chapayev a cross between checkers and billiards. (Yeah that sounds interesting!)
Then there is Gorodki where you throw a bat (no not ball, a bat) at 'skittles' (cylinders). Why on earth you would toss a bat rather than a ball is anyones guess.

They developed a few computer games that folk might recognize, but most importantly Tetris. Now the trouble is how do I turn a one player electronic game into something the kids can work on together with no electronics. I found this slightly irreverent site suggesting a paper and pen version. Draw a grid, line up the shapes, and take turns placing blocks. Sounds good, but I have no intentions of drawing the shapes over and over again. Unfortunately I do not own Tetris of any form, so I did a bit of searching to find what is pretty typical, and then I used Pub to make a printable version, I can then copy and have the kids cut them out, shuffle the stack and let them take turns putting them down with no (or few) gaps.

On a slightly unrelated subject, I want this shelving! only in black please.

Well there you have the convoluted path, from Russian geography to home decor!