Age Range: 4-6

Skills/Subjects

• Cultural Awareness & Appreciation
• Physica1 & Motor

Related Episode

• #119: Star Search

Gullah Games

Learn a Gullah clapping game.

Materials

• None

Directions

The Gullah people came from West Africa. They were brought to the islands and coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia as slaves beginning in the mid 1600s. For many generations, the sea island communities were quite cut off from the mainland, and this isolation allowed the Gullah people to preserve much of the culture of their ancestors, including games, recipes, music, language and crafts. Here is a Gullah hand-clapping game for you and your child to enjoy together.

To play this clapping game, called "One-ry, Two-ry," face your partner. Clap right hands together, then clap your own hands together. Clap left hands together, then clap your own hands together. Repeat this pattern. "One-ry, Two-ry" can also be played as a counting-out rhyme (without handclapping), to determine who gets to go first, or who will be "IT".

R = clap right hands
X = clap your own hands together
L = clap left hands

source: "Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage" by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes. University of Georgia Press, © by Bess Lomax Hawes and Bessie Jones

Talk About It

Say to your child, "Imagine that you were going to make a video of our family or home town — what people, places, and events would you film? What music would you play in the background?"

Learn more about Gullah people by reading some of the Related Books with your child. "Beauty, Her Basket" and "A Net to Catch Time" capture the language and culture of daily life in a Gullah island community. "Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl" is a favorite Uncle Remus tale, retold in the language of the island.

Related Books

• Beauty, Her Basket by Sandra Belton
• Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl by Virginia Hamilton
• A Net to Catch Time by Sara Harrell Banks