Item-no.:  22357

 

Children of the world

 

The exciting journey around the world

 

 

Age: 5 +

Players: 2 to 6

Contents: 1 wooden game board

6 wooden dolls

30 postcards

1 dice with symbols

 

Illustration: Antje Flad

 

Six children who come from every corner of the earth are setting off on a voyage of discovery around the world. No matter where they call home, be it Europe, Asia, Arabia, Africa or America, all six travellers are curious to find out how children live in other parts of the world.

Panda bears in Asia, monkey bread trees in Africa, polar bears and dog sleds in Alaska – every child has postcards from his or her home country to give to the others. Join the children on their journey!

 

Aim of the Game: The aim of the game is to meet as many other children as possible and give them your postcards.

 

Game Preparation: Before you start the game. Place the game plan in the middle of the table and choose one of the wooden dolls. If two or three of you are playing, you can each use two wooden dolls.

 

To begin, place your doll on the coloured square outside its house.

If you are not quite sure who lives where, the doll’s shoes and clothes will tell you – they are the same colour as its starting box.

 

Each player takes 5 postcards with pictures of animals, plants, buildings and food from the country where your child lives. The coloured edge around the cards matches each wooden doll’s clothing.

 

Put the postcards on the table in front of you and look at them. Can you recognise what it is? You will find brief descriptions of the individual pictures at the end of these rules.

Players decide who the most adventurous of them is. 

This player goes first.

 

Setting off on your voyage around the world

 

When it’s your turn, throw the dice and move your wooden doll along in the direction indicated by the dice and by the number of boxes shown on the dice.

 

The arrows on the dice are also shown on the game plan, so you can always tell which direction you should move in.

 

For example, you throw a red arrow with 3 dots, then move your wooden doll 3 boxes to the left. If you throw a green arrow with 2 dots, move 2 boxes to the right.

 

If you end your turn in a box with no other wooden doll, leave your doll there and the next player continues.

 

If you end your turn in a box where there is another player’s doll, you may give this player one of the postcards from your country.

 

 

If there are several dolls in the box where your turn ends, choose which one of them you would like to give a postcard to.

Place the postcards you have been given in a stack so that they don’t get mixed up with the ones you are trying to give away.

 

The winner is the first player to give away his or her 5 postcards.

 

Information on the postcards

 

There are lots of old castles and palaces in Europe, some of which date back to the Middle Ages.

 

Have you ever seen a fox? There are lots of them in European woods, but usually they stay in their dens during the day.

 

Holland is famous for its windmills, but they are also found in lots of other European countries. They used to be used for milling flour, but today they are mostly homes or museums.

 

Cheese is a speciality in many different parts of Europe. There are many different kinds – and sometimes each village in a particular region will have its own special variety.

 

Many countries in Europe have mountain ranges, like the Alps. On the mountain slopes, there are meadows where animals graze. Only in autumn, before the first snow falls are they driven back into the shelter of the villages.

 

 

In many parts of Asia, people use chopsticks for eating rather than knives and forks. They eat lots of rice and drink tea with it. Green tea is particularly popular in Asia.

 

Rice is the main source of nutrition in Asia. It is cultivated on large fields.

 

Buddhism is a philosophy that is very widespread throughout Asia, so you will find lots of Buddhist temples and statues of Buddha.

 

Panda bears love to eat bamboo, and that is why they are sometimes called bamboo bears. Today, sadly, they are threatened by extinction.

 

 

Thousands of years ago the Egyptian pharaohs built pyramids for themselves as burial sites.

 

If you are lucky you may come across an oasis with palm trees in the deserts of Arabia.

 

Caravans in the desert always have dromedaries with them as helpful companions.

 

Many inhabitants of Arabia are Muslim, and they go to the mosque to pray.

 

Beautiful, colourful carpets are hand-made in many Arabian countries. They are sold at lively bazaars and markets.

 

 

There are vast savannahs throughout Africa, where giraffes... and elephants and lots of other wild animals live.

 

Traditionally many Africans lived in thatched huts that were made with clay.

 

Monkey bread trees can grow to a height of 20 metres.

 

During festival times people celebrate by wearing ornate masks carved from wood.

 

 

 

Native Americans are the original inhabitants of North America, and there are lots of different tribes. Some of them traditionally lived in tents called teepees.

 

Today, many still wear magnificent feather head-dresses for special occasions.

 

Native Americans traditionally traveled on rivers in canoes, which they made themselves out of wood and birch-bark.

 

This cactus is really prickly! There are over 2000 different types cacti in desert areas of the United States.

 

Bison live in vast herds in North America’s prairies, but sadly not many of them are left today.

 

 

 

Artic: By tradition, Inuit people, otherwise known as Eskimos live in houses made of snow and ice, which are called igloos.

 

They make holes in the ice to catch fish, which they then eat.

 

Eskimo sledges are pulled by sledge dogs, which travel across the ice and snow at great speeds.

 

Polar bears ... and seals are also at home in the earth’s coldest regions.