Amazing Africa Projects: You Can Build Yourself (Build It Yourself) Paperback – February 9, 2010

This book is better labeled as "cultural awareness project book" than "build yourself" project book. My kids love to read and build things, but no book had them turn away so soon than this one. I had to read through this and pick out one, may be two projects and tweak them to get my kids interested. The projects themselves are not bad but when you sell something as "build yourself", it gives an impression that it is about building things, not making colorful paper masks with stripes and patterns and the like.

This is a great book with indepth information about varying countries in Africa, that offers lots of "hands on" projects. My kids and I both loved it.

No work pages

There were a couple of moments at the start when I worried this was going to be yet another Africa book that's totally about animals and tribal art, which isn't a particularly balanced picture of Africa - but by the end I was impressed with how much ground this book had covered. It was mostly pretty excellent and in a field of few resources, it was the best one I found. The projects are just okay (a couple of them didn't mention what specific geographic region or group was inspiring them, which is one of my big pet peeves in a book about "Africa" or "Native Americans" or the like), but it's actually the narrative text that's the best part of this resource. It summarizes in clear, understandable language many aspects of African geography, geology, wildlife, history and culture in a way that I haven't seen in most books for children. And it's up to date to boot.

I wish this book were about 4 times longer. The text is so good; it combines science, social science, history, and art. There are maps and illustrations -- very well done.The activities are great and utilize things you already own: string and paper and ink pads and paint and cardboard. Best of all -- they require almost no help from Mom.I like how this book explores Africa as a continent and does not shy away from uncomfortable truths about the slave trade and African history.Highly recommend for teachers and families.

Amazing Africa Projects You Can Build Yourself by Carla Mooney is a wonderful book full of cool projects and information that will keep your child busy for hours. Africa is part of Nomad Press's Build-it-Yourself series for kids ages 9-12.This book thoroughly explores Africa, the people, the culture, their traditions and amazing wildlife. But unlike other books that just talk about Africa, this book actually includes 25 hands on projects that can be done using household items. Some of the projects include;* Make your own Rainforest Vine* Make your own Ndebele House Painting* Make your own Dogon Antelope Mask* Make your own Zitumbuma (Banana Fritters)In addition to these cool projects, Amazing Africa Projects also includes interesting facts, historical information as well as a glossary for those words that are a bit tricky.